Physicist remembers '40s, SRS

Web posted Wednesday, November 29, 2000

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By Clarissa J. Walker
Staff Writer

Harold Agnew said he wanted to take the crowd back to the '40s, a time he doesn't want subsequent generations to forget.

``It's a generation gap. People don't realize what it was like back in the '40s and how important it was to (build SRS) in a timely fashion and a safe fashion,'' said Dr. Agnew, keynote speaker for the Ninth Annual Edward Teller Lecture and Celebration of the Savannah River Site's Anniversary.

``And it's really been important in maintaining the status quo of peace throughout the world today,'' said Dr. Agnew, the former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness sponsored the lecture Tuesday night at Radisson Riverfront Hotel Augusta.

Throughout the evening, speakers referred to Nov. 28, 1950, the day President Harry Truman announced that Savannah River Site would be built.

``(The site) played a crucial role from the time it started producing plutonium and producing tritium,'' Dr. Agnew said.``And it's still a very key responsibility on their part for maintaining their present active stockpile. It's a crucial part of the whole complex.''

Tuesday night's event is named for Edward Teller, who was regarded as the father of the hydrogen bomb, and it was the culminating event for a nearly a month of events recognizing the site's 50th anniversary.

Dr. Agnew, a physicist, was one of the crew members on the aircraft that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.

SRS's transition from wartime to peacetime has been smooth - for the most part.

``I think at times people forget how important this total program is, and at times the Congress hasn't quite funded it properly or the executive branch hasn't asked the Congress for the appropriate funds,'' he said. ``In general, I think that the program is healthy.''

Reach Clarissa J. Walker at (706) 828-3851.

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