05-30-2014, 04:41 PM
eustacetilley wrote:
We had two kinds of Big Red Buttons; first were the Crash-Off Buttons, which tripped the 12KV breaker, and reduced us to utter darkness, accompanied with hopefully not too much burning flesh smell.
The other was a SCRAM button; it tripped all safety chains, but left power on. Some chassis had their own SCRAM button, deeply reset so a swinging cat wouldn't accidentally trip it.
Legend has it that the first SCRAM button wasn't a button at all. Somebody yells "Scram", and the "Safety Control Rod Axe Man" swings into action, while everybody else scrams.
Fermi may or may not have invented the term.
Eustace
Any war stories of being in the room when either were used? Or even better, being the one to press it?