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SL-1 Film photograph collection, 1961-1984

Overview of the Collection

Collector
Orr, Diane; Roberts, C. Larry
Title
SL-1 Film photograph collection
Dates
1961-1984 (inclusive)
Quantity
162 items, (1 box)
Collection Number
P2103
Summary
SL-1 is a 1983 documentary film by Utah filmmakers Diane Orr and C. Larry Roberts investigating the January 3, 1961 meltdown of a nuclear reactor at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. This collection contains black-and-white photographs of the event collected by Orr and Roberts during the course of their research for the film.
Repository
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Diane Orr is a documentary filmmaker and photographer whose films have explored subjects including Idaho’s 1961 SL-1 nuclear reactor accident, the 1976 Teton Dam disaster, the disappearance of Everett Ruess, and the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Several of Orr's films document the culture and history of the American West and the issues facing Native Americans. Her photography highlights Western landscapes and rock art (pictographs and petroglyphs). C. Larry Roberts collaborated with Orr on several works. In the 1970s he was a producer for KUTV’s news magazine, EXTRA . He taught filmmaking at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the California Institute of the Arts, and San Francisco State University and served as artist-in-residence at the Utah Media Arts Center. Roberts died on July 26, 1988.

In 1979, Orr and Roberts began collaboration on SL-1 , a documentary film about the January 3, 1961 meltdown of the Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) located west of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The meltdown killed three people and led to the exposure of approximately 790 individuals to dangerous levels of radiation. Drawing from government documents, photographs, and film obtained through a Freedom of Information inquiry, Roberts and Orr reconstructed the accident and its causes. SL-1 was released in 1983. It won the Josef von Sternberg Prize at the International Film Week festival in Mannheim, Germany and was aired on New York public television station WNET.

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Content Description

The SL-1 Film photograph collection consists of 1 box containing 162 black-and-white photographs depicting the 1961 meltdown of a reactor at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. The photographs were primarily created by the United States government and were acquired by Orr and Roberts for use in their film through Freedom of Information Requests in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from the SL-1 Film photograph collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator.

Preferred Citation

Initial Citation: SL-1 Film photograph collection, P2103, Box [ ]. Special Collections and Archives. University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Following Citations: P2103.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by subject

Acquisition Information

Donated by Dianne Orr in 2015.

Processing Note

Processed by Special Collections staff.

Separated Materials

See also the SL-1 Film records (ACCN 2895) in the Manuscripts Division of Special Collections.

Related Materials

This collection forms part of the Utah Independent Film Archive.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

  • Description: Camera and Film Crew
    Container: Box 1, Folder 1
  • Description: Board and Board meetings
    Container: Box 1, Folder 2
  • Description: Reactor Room Controls
    Container: Box 1, Folder 3
  • Description: Staging Area: Shower, laundry and radioactivity
    Container: Box 1, Folder 4
  • Description: Core and Rods
    Container: Box 1, Folder 5
  • Description: Rod Removal
    Container: Box 1, Folder 6
  • Description: Reacotr Dismantled
    Container: Box 1, Folder 7
  • Description: Clean up without protective gear
    Container: Box 1, Folder 8
  • Description: Measuring coffin radioactovity
    Container: Box 1, Folder 9
  • Description: Radioactive materials taken to burial trenches
    Container: Box 1, Folder 10
  • Description: Checking roads for radioactivity
    Container: Box 1, Folder 11