THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 30, 1994 TAG: 9411300033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: BY WENDELL N. VEST
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
IN THE LATE 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Livermore National Laboratory, headed by Dr. Edward Teller, the ``Father of the H-Bomb,'' put forth a proposal to dredge a port at Ogutruk Creek on Alaska's northwestern coast, using atomic explosives. The government of Alaska, the business community, the University of Alaska, the press and most people thought it was a good idea.
The concept of using atomic explosives, essentially atomic bombs, to accomplish extraordinary engineering tasks was the centerpiece of the Eisenhower Administration's ``Atoms for Peace'' program. The opportunity to demonstrate, and test, this concept in a remote area of the world seemed ideal at the time.
The AEC, created by Congress in 1946 to monitor and control the uses of atomic energy, planned to detonate three nuclear devices in the megaton range in Ogutruk Creek to create a deep-water port that would facilitate and encourage the development of the mineral resources thought to abound in this remote area of Alaska.
The plan, given the code name ``Project Chariot,'' was developed by the Livermore National Laboratory, employing some of the more prominent nuclear scientists of the day. Though the scale of the explosions was reduced to smaller kiloton devices as the project was developed, it was considered by many involved to be the perfect way to develop the frontiers of civilization.
These grandiose plans took little notice of the fact that nearby Cape Hope was populated by a tribe of Inupiat Eskimos - the ``Sea People of Tikiraq,'' who had been there for 2,000 years and who depended upon the land around the creek and the sea for their livelihood. Pursuant to state and federal law, these people could not own the land, but they were supposedly protected from encroachment of it by an unwritten law.
Dan O'Neill's ``The Firecracker Boys'' (St. Martin's Press, $24.95) is the story of how this remote tribe began, against all odds, to protest the AEC's plan. At first, the AEC simply ignored the protest and assured the tribespeople that no harm would come to their hunting grounds or to them personally.
After their protests came to the attention of scientists more interested in protecting Alaska's natural resources than in exploiting them, concerns about the aftereffects of the explosions grew. By 1961, the whole country was worried about the effects of nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, and Project Chariot was canceled. The protest of the Inupiat Eskimos not only stopped the program of atomic engineering but also fostered a concern for the environment and the rights of native Americans.
O'Neill is a research associate in the oral history program at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He has meticulously uncovered many details about the AEC's pursuit of its objectives in Project Chariot, many of which are still considered secret.
In reading ``The Firecracker Boys,'' one is particularly struck by the infighting among bureaucracies over who had jurisdiction over, and responsibility for, the unclaimed land and the peoples of the Alaskan northwest. The process of taking over the land around the creek and ignoring the concerns of the Inupiat seems, today, to be particularly arrogant.
O'Neill's tale is one of personalities and processes. The reader is overwhelmed by the number of personalities involved and by detailed discussions of the many incidents in nuclear development that occurred during the '50s and early '60s. Some of these have little impact on the main story and distract rather than illuminate. O'Neill also tends to confuse the chronology of the story by skipping backward and forward to describe events. As a result, important events seem to occur out of order.
On the plus side, O'Neill's description of life among the ``Sea People of Tikiraq'' and the epilogue telling what has happened in the 30 years since Project Chariot was canceled are well done.
This is a tale that illustrates the classic American dictum that the meek can prevail over the mighty. MEMO: Wendell N. Vest is a retired Marine colonel who lives in Norfolk.
ILLUSTRATION: [Bookjacket]
``The Firecracker Boys'' tells of the 1950s plan to use nuclear
blasts to form a port in Alaska.
by CNB