Pioneer in military use of nuclear power provides insight on facility to be decommissioned
Retired Lt. Gen. Ernest Graves, a pioneer in the history of the military’s use of nuclear power for various purposes, discusses his past involvement with the construction and initial operation of the SM-1 nuclear reactor and plant at Fort Belvoir in the 1950s with Brian Hearty, the national program manager at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Headquarters, for the Army’s Deactivated Nuclear Power Plant Program, during a meeting at the US Army Nuclear and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Agency headquarters on Fort Belvoir, Tuesday September 19, 2017. In addition to providing nuclear and countering weapons of mass destruction expertise, USANCA is home to the Army Reactor Office, which issues the permits for the Army’s one operating and three deactivated nuclear reactors. Hearty is part of a team gathering as much information as possible about the SM-1 reactor as part of the planning process for its ultimate decommissioning and dismantling. Meeting with Graves is just one of many efforts towards planning SM-1’s decommissioning.