title: Gold mining

text: Human Rights Watch produced a report in 2015 that outlined some of challenges faced globally. The report notes that


title: Gold mining

text: "Fairtrade" and "Fairmined" dual certification for gold was launched across the United Kingdom on 14 February 2011, a joint scheme between The Fairtrade Foundation and The Association for Responsible Mining. The "Fairmined" mark ensures that the gold has been extracted in a fair and responsible manner.


title: Gold mining

text: The "Fairtrade Standard for Gold and Associated Precious Metals for Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining" was adopted in 2013, and the Fairtrade Foundation reports on a number of technical uses and responsible suppliers of Fairtrade Certified Gold. The Fairtrade Foundation launched a free course aimed at sales staff responsible for selling gold jewellery in 2017.


title: Gold mining

text: A UN investigation reported human rights abuses such as sexual exploitation of women and children, mercury poisoning and child labor affecting communities where illegal gold production occurs. The reports said global buyers such as Switzerland, through which roughly two-thirds of global trade transits, need to ensure that human rights are respected throughout supply chains.


title: Gold mining

text: Within the United States, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has set noise exposure limits for those within the mining industry. These noise exposure guidelines state that the "Permissible Exposure Level" (PEL) of noise is 90 dBA as an 8-hour time-weighted-average. Mine workers exposed to a time-weighted average of at least 85 dBA fall into the "Action Level" in which workers with exposures exceeding that level are placed into a hearing conservation program. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has examined noise exposures of gold mine workers. One study found that gold mine workers noise exposures ranged from 165 to 261% of the MSHA PEL. Haul truck operators, load-haul-dump operators, single boom drill operators, and roof bolter operators represented the occupations with the highest noise exposures within gold mines.


title: Mordecai

text: Mordecai (; also Mordechai; , IPA: ) is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He is described as being the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was promoted to Vizier after Haman was killed.


title: Mordecai

text: Mordecai resided in Susa (Shushan or Shoushan), the metropolis of Persia (now Iran). He adopted his orphaned cousin (Esther 2:7), Hadassah (Esther), whom he brought up as if she were his own daughter. When "young virgins" were sought, she was taken into the presence of King Ahasuerus and was made queen in the place of the exiled queen Vashti. Subsequently, Mordecai discovered a plot of the king's chamberlains Bigthan and Teresh to assassinate the king. Because of Mordecai's vigilance, the plot was foiled.


title: Mordecai

text: Haman the Agagite had been raised to the highest position at court. In spite of the king's decree that all should prostrate themselves before Haman, Mordecai refused to do so. Haman, stung by Mordecai's refusal, resolved to kill not only Mordecai but all Jewish exiles throughout the Persian empire, and won the king's permission to carry out his plan. Mordecai communicated Haman's scheme to Queen Esther, who used her favor with the king to reverse the scheme, leading the king to authorize Jews to kill their enemies, which they did.


title: Mordecai

text: During all this, the king had happened to remember Mordecai's service in foiling the assassination plot and had asked Haman how a person who did a great service to the king should be honored. Haman answered, thinking the question was about him; and the king followed this advice, and honored Mordecai, and eventually made Mordecai his chief advisor. Haman was executed on gallows that he had set for Mordecai.


title: Mordecai

text: Although the details of the setting are entirely plausible and the story may even have some basis in actual events, the book of Esther is a novella rather than history. Persian kings did not marry outside of seven Persian noble families, making it unlikely that there was a Jewish queen Esther, and in any case the historical Xerxes's queen was Amestris.


title: Mordecai

text: There is general agreement that the story was created to justify the Jewish appropriation of an originally non-Jewish feast. The festival which the book explains is purim, which is explained as meaning "lot", from the Babylonian word "puru". There are wide-ranging theories regarding the origin of Purim: one popular theory says festival has its origins in a historicized Babylonian myth or ritual in which Mordecai and Esther represent the Babylonian gods Marduk and Ishtar, others trace the ritual to the Persian New Year, and scholars have surveyed other theories in their works Some scholars have defended the story as real history, but the attempt to find a historical kernel to the narrative "is likely to be futile".


title: Mordecai

text: The name "Mordecai" is of uncertain origin but is considered identical to the name "Marduka" or "Marduku" (), attested as the name of up to four Persian court officials in thirty texts (the Persepolis Administrative Archives) from the period of Xerxes I and his father Darius.


title: Mordecai

text: The Talmud ("Menachot" 64b and 65a) relates that his full name was "Mordechai Bilshan" (which occurs in Ezra 2:2 and Nehemiah 7:7, albeit likely as two "separate" names in sequence). Hoschander interpreted this as the Babylonian "Marduk Belshunu" (𒀭𒀫𒌓𒂗𒋗𒉡, AMAR.UTU-EN-"šu"-"nu", meaning "Marduk is their lord") "Mordecai" being thus a hypocorism.


title: Mordecai

text: In the King James Version of the deuterocanonical Greek additions to Esther, his name is spelled as Mardocheus, which may better preserve the original vowels, though the Masoretic Text versions of the Persian names in the Bible are known to be the most reliable.


title: Mordecai

text: Esther 2:5-6 contains a short snippet of Mordecai's genealogical history, generally translated as, "Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah". The wording of the passage lends to two conclusions: either that Mordecai (the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish) was carried into exile by Nebuchadnezzar, or that his ancestor Kish was the one carried into exile.


title: Mordecai

text: The Pentecostal minister Finis Dake interprets the Bible verses Esther 2:5–6 to mean that Mordecai himself was exiled by Nebuchadnezzar. Biblical scholar Michael D. Coogan discusses this as an inaccuracy regarding Mordecai's age. If "who had been carried into exile" refers to Mordecai, he would have had to live over a century to have witnessed the events described in the Book of Esther (assuming the biblical Ahasuerus is indeed Xerxes I). However, the verse may be read as referring not to Mordecai's exile to Babylon, but to his great-grandfather Kish's exile — a reading which many accept.


title: Mordecai

text: The Targum Sheni gives his genealogy in more detail, as follows: "Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Shemida, son of Ba'anah, son of Elah, son of Micah, son of Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, son of Kish, son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Bechorath, son of Aphiah, son of Shecharim, son of Uzziah, son of Sason, son of Michael, son of Eliel, son of Amihud, son of Shephatiah, son of Penuel, son of Petakh, son of Melokh, son of Yerubaal, son of Yeruham, son of Hananiah, son of Zabdi, son of Elpa'al, son of Shimri, son of Zebadiah, son of Rimoth, son of Khashum, son of Shekhorah, son of Gazza, son of 'Uzza, son of Gera, son of Bela, son of Benjamin, son of Jacob the firstborn, whose name is called Israel." The same genealogy is inscribed on a massive metal tablet in the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai (pictured).


title: Mordecai

text: This traditional genealogy implicates Kish as the name of an ancient ancestor and not simply Mordecai's great-grandfather, meaning that Esther 2:5—6 was interpreted as "Mordecai" being the one who was exiled to Babylon. The chronological inconsistencies of this assumption are detailed above.


title: Mordecai

text: The Talmud lists Esther as a prophet. Nachman b. Yaakov suggests that Mordecai is the Biblical prophet Malachi, but this argument is rejected by the Talmud.


title: Mordecai

text: Mordecai's genealogy in the second chapter of the Book of Esther is given as a descendant of a Benjaminite named Kish. As "Kish" was also the name of the father of King Saul, another Benjaminite, the Talmud accords Mordecai the status of a descendant of the first King of Israel.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Star Trek: Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Jonathan Frakes. It is the ninth film in the "Star Trek" film series, as well as the third to star the cast of "", with F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, and Anthony Zerbe appearing in main roles. In the film, the crew of the USS "Enterprise"-E rebels against Starfleet after they discover a conspiracy with a species known as the Son'a to steal the peaceful Ba'ku's planet for its rejuvenating properties.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Paramount Pictures sought a change of pace after "" (1996). Michael Piller was asked to write the script of the next installment, which was created from story ideas by Piller and producer Rick Berman. The story's first drafts featured the Romulans, and the Son'a and Ba'ku were introduced in its third draft. After Ira Steven Behr reviewed the script, Piller revised it and added a subplot involving a romantic interest for Jean-Luc Picard. The film's ending was further revised after test screenings. The special effects depicting outer space were completely computer generated, a first for a "Star Trek" film. The Ba'ku village was fully built on location at Lake Sherwood, California, but suffered weather damage. Sets from the television series "" and "" were reused and redressed. Michael Westmore created the make-up for the new alien races, and Robert Blackman revised the Starfleet dress uniform designs. Sanja Milkovic Hayes created costumes for the Ba'ku from cellulose fibers, which were baked and glued together. Jerry Goldsmith produced the film's score, his fourth for the franchise.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: "Insurrection" was the highest-grossing film on its opening weekend, making $22.1 million in the United States and Canada. The film went on to gross $70.2 million in the United States and Canada, and an additional $42.4 million in other territories, for a theatrical run of $117.8 million worldwide. Critical responses to the film were mixed; the performance of Patrick Stewart and the directing of Jonathan Frakes were praised, while other critics compared it to an extended episode of the television series. "Insurrection" was nominated for both a Saturn Award and a Hugo Award, but the only award it received was a Youth in Film Award for Michael Welch. It was followed by "" in 2002.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner) is temporarily transferred to an undercover mission observing the peaceful Ba'ku people. While on their planet, he malfunctions and reveals the presence of the joint Federation–Son'a task force observing the Ba'ku. Admiral Matthew Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) contacts the USS "Enterprise"-E to obtain Data's schematics for recovery purposes, but adamantly states the presence of the "Enterprise" is not needed. The crew decides to ignore these orders and takes the "Enterprise" to capture Data. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) becomes suspicious of Dougherty's insistence that the "Enterprise" is no longer needed and orders the cause of Data's malfunction to be investigated. The crew discovers that the Ba'ku possess advanced technology, but have rejected its use to live simpler lives. Due to unique "metaphasic particles" emanating from their planet's rings, they are effectively immortal. By contrast, the Federation's allies, the Son'a, are a decrepit race who rely on medical technology to prevent death; their excessive use of cosmetic surgery gives them a mummified appearance. The "Enterprise" crew also begin to experience the rejuvenation effects of the planet: Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) finds his eyes have regenerated and he no longer requires ocular implants, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) rekindle their long-abandoned relationship, and Picard develops a romantic relationship with the Ba'ku woman Anij (Donna Murphy).


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Data and Picard discover a submerged and cloaked Federation ship containing a gigantic holodeck set up to recreate the Ba'ku home village. Data's malfunction stems from a Son'a attack, the result of his accidental discovery of the vessel. Picard confronts Dougherty and learns that top Federation officers colluded with the Son'a to deceptively move the Ba'ku to the ship and forcibly relocate them to another planet, allowing for the particles to be collected on a mass scale (poisoning the planet in the process). Dougherty orders the "Enterprise" to leave. Picard retorts that the medical benefits of the particles does not justify Dougherty's plans for the Ba'ku and violates the Prime Directive.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Picard is joined by some of his crew to help the Ba'ku escape from being abducted while Riker takes the "Enterprise" to transmission range so he can communicate the violation to Starfleet. The Son'a send robotic probes to locate and capture the fleeing Ba'ku. The Son'a leader, Ahdar Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham), convinces Dougherty to allow two Son'a ships to attack the "Enterprise". Riker defeats the attacking ships and the "Enterprise" escapes. Their plan exposed, Ru'afo insists upon harvesting the radiation source immediately. Picard, Anij, and several Ba'ku are transported as prisoners onto the Son'a ship. Picard reveals to Dougherty that the Son'a and the Ba'ku are the same race: The Son'a are a splinter faction of Ba'ku who gave up their bucolic existence a century earlier to embrace the use of technology. They attempted to seize power, but failed, and the Ba'ku elders exiled them from the planet, denying them the rejuvenating effects of the rings. The Son'a developed an artificial and imperfect means to extend their lives at the cost of disfigurement, and now seek revenge. Ru'afo kills Dougherty when he backs out of the plan and moves to finish the collection.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: While Picard is being prepared for execution, he convinces the disillusioned Son'a Gallatin (Gregg Henry) to help him stop Ru'afo. Picard masterminds a ruse to transport Ru'afo and his bridge crew to the holoship and disable the harvester. Ru'afo discovers the deception and transports to the harvester ship to manually restart the process. Picard follows and sets the harvester to self-destruct, killing Ru'afo and escaping on the "Enterprise". The remaining Son'a are forgiven and welcomed back by the Ba'ku. Picard arranges a meeting between Gallatin and his Ba'ku mother to thank him for his help. The crew takes a moment to enjoy their rejuvenated selves before returning to their previous mission.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Patrick Stewart thought that the first "Next Generation" film, "Star Trek Generations", was too much like a television episode but thought that his character, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, was redefined as a "movie hero" in "". He was concerned that in the new film, the character would return to that seen in the television series. Michael Piller said that in order to be a hero, Picard "should be acting out of a moral and ethical mindset, and stand for principles that are important to [humanity]". Stewart was later pleased with the film's romantic sub-plot, calling it "charming" and saying that he was "feeling very good about it." He thought that the film had a lighter tone than previous films, saying, "It shows our crew having a little more fun than we normally see them doing". Stewart was disappointed that a scene in which Picard and Anij kiss was cut from the final version of the film, saying that "It was a studio decision, but still somewhat inexplicable to me as I feel the audience were waiting for some kind of romantic culmination to the relationship, which did happen and was extremely pleasant." Stewart received a producer's credit on the film.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Jonathan Frakes appeared as Commander William Riker, and as with "First Contact" he directed the project. Brent Spiner starred as Lieutenant Commander Data, asking for the character to be killed in "Insurrection" out of concern for aging out of the role. His copy of the script came with a note from the production team saying, "Sorry, kill you later". The underwater scene required Spiner to wear extra makeup to make it waterproof. LeVar Burton reprised his role of Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge; a month before the release of "Insurrection" he appeared in the role in a guest appearance in the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Michael Dorn returned as Lieutenant Commander Worf, having portrayed him in "Deep Space Nine" since 1995. Reprising her role as Doctor Beverly Crusher, Gates McFadden said that "Shooting "Star Trek" and getting paid to do it is great. But what's actually changed my life the most is traveling around and ... being a tiny little part of this huge mythology that has changed people's lives, in many ways for the better." Marina Sirtis appeared once more as Counselor Deanna Troi. She was positive about the film, saying "we've been involved with this for eleven years, we've done 179 episodes, three movies, and there are still surprises. There are more layers in this movie, it's not as black and white. It goes back to a lot of what Gene Roddenberry felt about "Star Trek" — I think he's going to be very happy up there when he sees this movie."


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Before the casting process, no actors had been considered for the roles of the Son'a leader, the Ba'ku woman, and the Starfleet admiral. The Son'a leader, Ahdar Ru'afo, was portrayed by F. Murray Abraham, who won an Academy Award for his performance in "Amadeus". Abraham was given the role without an audition. Abraham said of the franchise, "I was around when the series was first introduced to television and it was a hoot". He praised his make-up and prosthetics, saying "The idea that you can be somebody else behind the mask is an extraordinary feeling — it's very primitive and mysterious. A gap opens somewhere in the brain and it encourages wildness. It had me chewing at the scenery". He was particularly pleased to be working with Patrick Stewart.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Donna Murphy played the Ba'ku woman Anij, who is Picard's love interest. Eighty actresses auditioned for the role, which was awarded to Murphy who had previously won two Tony Awards for her roles in the Broadway musicals "Passion" and "The King and I". Murphy was such a favorite of Frakes and the producers that after auditioning, only a small number of other actresses were seen. She said of the role, "I feel a great honor and responsibility to be a part of this film, because I know that the "Star Trek" audience has such a devotion to and affection for these richly drawn characters."


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Anthony Zerbe originally auditioned for the role of Ru'afo, and was considered to be the best choice for it. However, the production team decided instead to cast him in the role of Admiral Matthew Dougherty. During Zerbe's audition, instead of reading the lines provided, he recited "Dante's Inferno" before seamlessly moving into the script. Frakes and the producers unanimously decided to award him the part of Dougherty. In the film's smaller roles, Stephanie Niznik played Ensign Kell Perim and Daniel Hugh Kelly appeared as Sojef. Gregg Henry appeared as Gallatin, and 10-year-old Michael Welch played the Ba'ku child Artim. Michael Horton returned as the tactical officer he portrayed in "First Contact"; his character was called Lieutenant Daniels in this film. Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello played a Son'a warrior. Morello's make-up regime began at 5 am, at which time he said he would normally "be crawling back into my coffin".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Several of the film's actors had previously appeared in the "Star Trek" franchise. Bruce French, who portrayed Son'a Officer Number 1, appeared as Sabin Genestra in "The Next Generation" episode "The Drumhead" and as the Ocampa doctor in the "Voyager" . Son'a Officer Number 3 was played by Joseph Ruskin, who appeared in four episodes across the "Star Trek" franchise: "The Original Series" episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion", and the "Deep Space Nine" episodes "Improbable Cause" and "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" and the "Voyager" episode "". McKenzie Westmore, daughter of make-up supervisor Michael Westmore, played a Ba'ku woman. She previously appeared as a child in "The Next Generation" episode "" and as Ensign Jenkins in the "Voyager" episode "". Scenes cut from the film would have featured two of the actors who played Ferengi on "Deep Space Nine": Max Grodénchik, more familiar as Rom, was to have appeared as a Trill in the library scene. Armin Shimerman filmed a scene in his role as Quark, in which he tries to set up timeshares on the Ba'ku planet at the end of the film.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Following the success of "First Contact", Paramount Pictures wanted a change in pace to give the follow-up film a lighter tone. Because "" is light in tone, yet was the most successful of all the "Star Trek" films at the box office as of then, Paramount reasoned that this success could be repeated with the new film. Michael Piller was asked to write the script, and accepted the position. Piller wished to escape the development hell of another project he was in. He wanted to give the crew a feeling of family, with a story featuring overtones of the Joseph Conrad novel "Heart of Darkness". Rick Berman wanted to see Picard undertake a rescue mission in a similar manner to the 1937 film, "The Prisoner of Zenda". Berman also originated an idea to have Picard kidnapped, and replaced with a surgically modified imposter. Piller was doubtful about Berman's idea, reasoning that the audience would not want to see an entire film in which Picard is not the lead star — the character would look like Patrick Stewart, but would be different. A further idea from Berman would have seen the return of , last seen in the episode "", in a film which was described as similar in tone to "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Piller initially thought to write a Fountain of Youth-type story, later saying, "Everybody's consumed with images of youth. There's commercials, plastic surgery — our culture seems obsessed with youth." He called the initial treatment "Heart of Lightness". Eric A. Stillwell was Piller's executive assistant and script coordinator. When Piller agreed to write a book about the making of "Insurrection", Pocket Books hired Stillwell as Piller's typist and research assistant. The book went unpublished, and it was alleged that Paramount Pictures suppressed it. Following Piller's death in 2005, the book was published on the internet.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Piller's first draft treatment for the film was titled "Star Trek: Stardust", taken from the 1927 song "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael after hearing Nat King Cole's version on the radio. The treatment featured Picard resigning from Starfleet after he is sent to retrieve a population and their youth-giving power, and bring them to an alien government, and included a betrayal by Picard's rogue colleague. The draft went through several versions with only the crew's mission and the Briar Patch — named after the area from the Br'er Rabbit stories — remaining. Berman suggested that Data become the renegade crew-member that Picard must deal with. The plot was similar to "The Next Generation" episode "" in that a people were being relocated through use of a holodeck. The use of a duck blind to observe cultures was previously used in the episode "Who Watches the Watchers".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: In one draft, Picard kills Data early in the film, and the android is later resurrected to help the Captain in the finale. The first two drafts featured the Romulans as the protagonists, since they had never prominently appeared in a "Star Trek" film. The second draft was seen by Jonathan Dolgen at the studio; Dolgen was not pleased and Patrick Stewart thought that it would have been only suitable for a television episode. In the third draft, the Son'a were introduced as the children of the Ba'ku and the alien race that wanted to plunder the planet. That version also included the crew sub-plots, such as the Troi-Riker romance and the regeneration of La Forge's eyes. Stewart, who was concerned that the film was a step back in scope from "First Contact", was consulted on the treatments.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Piller drafted the first version of the script and asked Ira Steven Behr, executive producer of "", to review it. Behr was critical of the script, describing the Son'a as "paper tigers". Piller said that "I knew he was right. There's no question that first draft was trying to tell two stories, and that's one too many for a movie." Piller re-drafted the script, adding a romantic subplot for Picard in the shape of Anij, a Ba'ku woman. He added gravitas to the Son'a to make them more menacing, and the ending was changed to include a massive Son'a collector ship and a confrontation between Picard and Ru'afo aboard the ship. A version of the script was subsequently leaked onto the internet. At the same time, Piller and Berman were exploring titles for the film, including "Prime Directive", "The Directive", "The Resignation", "The Enemy Within", "Breach of Promise", "Dereliction of Duty" and "Apostasy", because, they reasoned, that they could not submit it to the studio under the title of "Stardust". They could not settle on a title, so they submitted it as "Star Trek IX".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The studio was pleased with the post-Behr version of the script, which was the first version of the script they saw, having previously only seen pre-script treatments. In a memo to Piller, it was described as "easily the funniest and sexiest "Star Trek" story to date". They gave Piller a series of directions, including a request for a resolution to the Troi and Riker romance and for the character of Reginald Barclay to be replaced with expanded roles either for Beverley Crusher, Worf, or a new character.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Patrick Stewart sought a change to the script to have the crew defend the Ba'ku village in the manner of the Battle of the Alamo instead of fleeing into the mountains. Piller could not find a feasible way to include this in the script, and the budget ruled out the creation of Alamo-like structures in the mountains. Several titles were considered for the film as shooting approached. "Star Trek: Where Time Stands Still", "Star Trek: Forever" and "Star Trek: Beyond Paradise" were all considered but were rejected. Piller's favorite was "Star Trek: Sacred Honor", but the studio rejected this, because they were concerned that it sounded too religious. When shooting began, the film was still called "Star Trek IX".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The final version of the script was distributed to the cast, but Patrick Stewart did not receive a copy. Berman was concerned that if anyone had a problem with it, they would call Stewart to complain and it would appear as though Stewart was being left out because he had criticized the story. LeVar Burton called Stewart to praise the script. Stewart was sent a copy and requested a meeting to discuss changes. Piller feared the worst, but after a twenty-minute meeting with Stewart, who requested several dialogue changes, the script was finalized. During pre-production, the marketing department wanted to decide a title, preferring "Star Trek: Revolution". Alan Spencer, a friend of Piller, suggested "Insurrection", which was selected from a choice of "Insurrection", "Rebellion", "High Treason" and "Act of Treason".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: After filming was complete, test screenings were held, and the production team became aware of a problem with the ending. In the original ending, Ru'afo is ejected into space from the Son'a collector ship and de-ages rapidly as he floats amongst the rings of the planet Ba'ku. The revised ending saw the "Enterprise" swoop in at the last minute to save Picard and destroy the collector ship with Ru'afo aboard. The studio liked the new ending but wanted a bigger space battle. The production team agreed providing they could postpone the release to allow enough time for this. Because the studio wanted "Insurrection" to be released in time for Christmas, no further revisions were made to the ending.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: "Insurrection" was the first "Star Trek" film with space-based effects produced entirely using computer-generated imagery (CGI). While CGI had been used for specific effects since ""; "Insurrection" was the first "Star Trek" film to be made without using physical models of spacecraft. Santa Barbara Studios produced the effects, which included CGI starship models. The texture on the model of the Enterprise-E was created from a series of close-up photographs of the model "Enterprise" which had been used in "First Contact". The planet-based effects, such as phaser fire, transporter effects and the Son'a drones were created by Blue Sky Studios. Peter Lauritson was the co-producer for post-production.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Herman Zimmerman was the production designer, and had three months to design and construct 55 full sets for the film, eighteen more than used in the previous film in the series. Zimmerman said that it was "probably the most scenery we've built for a "Star Trek" motion picture since the first one, when everything was brand new". The Ba'ku village was built in full scale on location at Lake Sherwood, California, with architectural designs combining Thai, Balinese and Polynesian styles. The village included a bakery, a farm with a full irrigation system, a city hall, and a city square which was referred to as the "rotunda". The location shoot lasted for six weeks. The buildings included sections built with styrofoam, which were cut out using computer aided design and computer-aided manufacturing techniques. These were covered in hardcoat to make them look as though they were made from stone, but they were not made waterproof. The set suffered water damage following record-levels of rainfall during the spring of 1998. The foam warped as it dried out in the sun, causing delays in shooting while repairs were made.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Sets built for use in "" were redressed to appear as the "Enterprise"-E in "Insurrection"; Captain Janeway's quarters became Picard's, the "Voyager" briefing room became Riker's quarters, and part of the "Voyager" engineering set became the "Enterprise" library. The interior of the scoutship flown by Data was originally the cockpit of the "Voyager"s shuttlecraft, while the interior of the "Enterprise" shuttlecraft used the interior set from a "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" Runabout. Filming began on March 31, 1998, and concluded on July 2. According to Frakes, half of the time shooting was spent on location. The scenes in which the "Enterprise" crew and the Ba'ku take refuge in the mountains were shot on location above Lake Sabrina in the Sierra Nevada in locations which could only be reached by helicopter. The location was around above sea level, and a medic was on standby with oxygen if the cast or crew required it.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: After filming, parts of the interior sets of the So'na ships were added using CGI. Stage 15 on the Paramount lot was used for the climactic scene between Picard and Ru'afo. Because of the dangers of the four-story scaffolding-like set, the actors were attached by safety cables at all times. Paramount's B tank, which was used to represent San Francisco Bay in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home", was used to shoot footage of Picard, Data and Anij at the Ba'ku lake. For a scene in which Data walks along a lake bed, the actor's tricorder prop was covered with plastic to make it watertight.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Make-up supervisor Michael Westmore aimed to create a look for the Son'a that was not exaggerated. He consulted several sculptors; Dean Jones, who was on the production staff for "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", created the look. The prosthetics for Ru'afo consisted of overlapping layers that were stretched over Abraham's head. Westmore said Abraham's prosthetics was "like a rubber band, F. Murray Abraham could turn his head and the skin would look translucent. It was so thin, and the layers were pulling on each other." The two other aliens on the Son'a vessels also had specific prosthetic make-up designs created. The Tarlac's look was based on reptilian skin, while the Ellora required only nose and forehead prosthetics.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The film also gave costume designer Robert Blackman an opportunity to address issues with the Starfleet dress uniforms, which Blackman had changed on several occasions during "The Next Generation". The uniforms appeared for the first time in the episode "Lonely Among Us", and were based on the 18th century designs for the Royal Navy. For "Insurrection", Blackman initially thought of creating a uniform with short jackets in blue, red and gold, which he later said was "not a good idea". His eventual design removed the color palettes for specific divisions. Blackman said, "No matter what, white over black has a formal look to it." Sanja Milkovic Hayes created the remaining new costumes for the film. She avoided making the Ba'ku look too cute, and used material made from cellulose fiber specifically created for "Insurrection". She said it was organic, and was simply cooked and then glued together. The Son'a costumes were made from layers of crushed velvet and metal strips. The female bodysuits were made of latex; Hayes wanted them to appear "sexy, but not vulgar" and described the outfits as "very conservative".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The score for "Insurrection" was composed by Jerry Goldsmith; his fourth score for the franchise. Goldsmith continued using the march and Klingon themes written for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979, adding new themes and variations. "Insurrection" opens with Alexander Courage's "" fanfare, introducing a six-note motif used in many of the film's action sequences. The Ba'ku are scored with a pastoral theme with repeating harps, string sections and a woodwind solo. The Ba'ku's ability to slow time was accompanied with a variation of this music.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: Goldsmith used quick bursts of brass music to accompany the starship sequences. For scenes in which observers are watching the Ba'ku unseen, Goldsmith used a "spying theme" that resembles his conspiracy theme from "Capricorn One". Composed of a piano, timpani percussion, and brass, the theme builds until it is interrupted by the action theme as Data opens fire. Goldsmith did not write a motif for the Son'a, but scored the action sequence without designating the Son'a as an antagonist, suggesting the film's revelation that the Son'a and Ba'ku are related. The film's climax is scored with the action theme, which is balanced with "sense of wonder" music similar to cues from "The Motion Picture".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: One scene in the film shows Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner conducting a duet of "A British Tar" from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic-opera "H.M.S. Pinafore". This replaced the original idea of Picard and Data reciting scenes from Shakespeare's play "King Lear". Stewart had suggested that they sing "Three Little Maids from School are we" from "The Mikado" instead, but the producers described this as "too vulgar". Stewart and Spiner had previously sung together on Spiner's 1991 album "Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: In 2013, GNP Crescendo Records re-released the soundtrack for the film as an expanded collector's edition [GNPD 8082], featuring previously unreleased tracks by Goldsmith plus four bonus tracks.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The world premiere of "Insurrection" launched the 1998 CineVegas film festival. It went on general release in the U.S. and Canada on December 11, 1998. The film grossed $22.4 million over the opening weekend; the most of any film during that period. It averaged a total of $8,417 per location across 2,620 theaters, but fell short of the opening weekend takings of both "First Contact" and "Generations", which were $30.7 million and $23.1 million respectively.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: "Insurrection" was the highest-grossing film during the first week of its release in the United States, and stayed in the top ten for a further three weeks. During its first week of release in the UK, it was the highest-grossing film, exceeding the takings of the Will Smith film "Enemy of the State". "Insurrection" enjoyed a two-week spell at the top of the UK box office and eventually earned £7,429,398, roughly the same as "Generations". It went on to gross $70,187,658 in the US and $47,612,342 in other countries for a total of $117,800,000 worldwide against a $70 million budget. It was the first "Star Trek" film to be promoted through the official website, which was called the "Star Trek Continuum" at the time. Following the success of the film, Rick Berman said that he wanted to release the next film in the series three years after "Insurrection". Referencing Stanley Kubrick's "", he said, "The notion of releasing a science fiction film in the year 2001 is very seductive."


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The critical response to "Insurrection" was mixed. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 55% based on 67 reviews, with critic consensus being that, "Although not terrible, the sluggishly paced Insurrection plays like an extended episode of the TV series." On Metacritic the film has a score of 64 out of 100, based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The "Los Angeles Daily News" said that the film had the "bare bones of one of those pseudo-philosophical political allegories "Trek" has always done so entertainingly. But the movie blows it." It praised the directing of Jonathan Frakes and the computer generated special effects and gave the film two and a half stars overall. The "Daily Herald" also gave the film two and a half stars, describing it as a "slickly made" movie with a plot "scaled down to its TV roots", and criticized the "frivolous" romance between Riker and Troi. "The Washington Times" gave the film one and a half stars, saying that it was "consistently flat-footed and slow on the uptake", and that there was "ramshackle confusion during the climactic scenes".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The Scottish "Daily Record" praised F. Murray Abraham and described Anthony Zerbe as "ever-dependable". It said the plot was good, but that it was simply an extended episode of "The Next Generation", and gave it a score of six out of ten. The British newspaper "The People" also said it was an extended television episode.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: "The Independent" said that "Insurrection" "never stops being familiarly jolly and antiquated", and called the entire "Star Trek" film franchise "old-fashioned". "The Washington Post" also called the film old fashioned, but "in the best sense of the word", and said that the film did what the "doctor – make that Dr. 'Bones' McCoy – ordered". British journalist Simon Rose, writing for "The Daily Mirror" was more critical of the film, saying that it failed to break the odd-numbered "Star Trek" film curse, and that it was "feeble", "moribund" and "tedious". However, Josh Spiegel writing for "The Buffalo News" said that "Insurrection" broke the odd-numbered film rule. Further criticism came from the "Birmingham Evening Mail", which said that it was "an adult form of entertainment equivalent to "Teletubbies" for babies", and that there were "lots of repetition, rubbery faces, gibberish dialogue, characters leaping up and down in funny suits and some very basic effects". The reviewer gave the film two stars for fans, and none for non-fans. In "Folklore/Cinema: Popular Film as Vernacular Culture", the actions of Data and the Ba'ku child Artim in "Insurrection" are seen as "a metamorphosis motif where a child becomes computerlike and a computer/android becomes more childlike". Data specifically "is a metaphor for a child who seeks to understand what being human means and then, like the velveteen rabbit, wishes to become. From confronting his father and evil brother to finding his mother, Data also represents the potential within all of us to quest for a fuller humanity".


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The film was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film at the 25th Saturn Awards; the prize was shared by "Armageddon" and "Dark City". In 1999, it was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, which went to "The Truman Show". It was nominated for Best Family Feature Film: Drama at the 20th Youth in Film Awards and won the individual award for Best Performance in a Feature Film: Supporting Young Actor for Michael Welch.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: The first home media release of the film was made simultaneously on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD on May 11, 1999, in the United States, and outside the US on VHS later that year. The film was released on June 5, 2000, in the United Kingdom, and was one of the first titles to be released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment International in Europe and Japan.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: A video game which followed up on the events of "Insurrection" was released in 2000. Entitled "", it was set nine months after the events depicted in the film. In its narrative, a Son'a colony has been created on Ba'ku, and an archaeological discovery which shares similarities with "The Next Generation" episode "" is made. The game was developed by Presto Studios and published by Activision.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: An "Insurrection" "Special Collector's Edition" two-disc set was released in 2005 at the same time as three other "Next Generation" films and ""s fourth season, marking the first time that every film and episode of the franchise was available on home video. The film was presented with the same technical specifications as the previous release and a new DTS soundtrack, but it shipped without an audio commentary. The DVD includes a text track by Michael and Denise Okuda that provides production trivia and relevant facts about the "Star Trek" universe. The second disc contains six "making-of" videos, including one about the construction of the Ba'ku village and one about Michael Westmore's make-up designs for the film.


title: Star Trek: Insurrection

text: As part of a collection of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" films, "Insurrection" was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 22, 2009. The Blu-ray transfer is presented in 1080p high definition enhanced for widescreen television and features 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio in English, French and Spanish. The release also contains "Creating the Illusion" featurettes and new commentary by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis.


title: SL-1

text: Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, also known as SL-1 or the Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR), was a United States Army experimental nuclear reactor in the western United States at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS), later the Idaho National Laboratory, west of Idaho Falls, Idaho. It experienced a steam explosion on the night of January 3, 1961, killing all three of its young military operators, and pinning one of them to the ceiling of the facility with a reactor vessel plug. The event is the only reactor accident in U.S. history that resulted in immediate fatalities.


title: SL-1

text: The direct cause was the over-withdrawal of the central control rod, responsible for absorbing neutrons in the reactor's core. The accident released about of iodine-131, which was not considered significant due to its location in the remote high desert of eastern Idaho. About of fission products were released into the atmosphere.


title: SL-1

text: The facility housing SL-1, located approximately west of Idaho Falls, was part of the Army Nuclear Power Program. The reactor was intended to provide electrical power and heat for small, remote military facilities, such as radar sites near the Arctic Circle, and those in the DEW Line. The design power was 3 MW (thermal), but some 4.7 MW tests were performed in the months prior to the accident. Operating power was 200 kW electrical and 400 kW thermal for space heating. During the accident, the core power level reached nearly 20 GW in just four milliseconds, precipitating the steam explosion.


title: SL-1

text: From 1954 to 1955, the U.S. Army evaluated their need for nuclear reactor plants that would be operable in remote regions of the Arctic. The reactors were to replace diesel generators and boilers that provided electricity and space heating for the Army's radar stations. The Army Reactors Branch formed the guidelines for the project and contracted with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to design, build, and test a prototype reactor plant to be called the Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR). Some of the more important criteria included:


title: SL-1

text: The prototype was constructed at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho Falls, Idaho, from July 1957 to July 1958. It went critical on August 11, 1958, became operational on October 24, and was formally dedicated on December 2, 1958. The 3 MW (thermal) boiling water reactor (BWR) used 93.20% highly enriched uranium fuel. It operated with natural circulation, using light water as a coolant (vs. heavy water) and moderator. ANL used its experience from the BORAX experiments to design the reactor. The circulating water system operated at flowing through fuel plates of uranium-aluminum alloy. The plant was turned over to the Army for training and operating experience in December 1958 after extensive testing, with Combustion Engineering Incorporated (CEI) acting as the lead contractor beginning February 5, 1959.


title: SL-1

text: Trainees in the Army Reactor Training Program included members of the Army, called "cadre", who were the primary plant operators. Many maritime civilians also trained along with a few Air Force and Navy personnel. While plant operation was generally done by the "cadre" in two-man crews, any development of the reactor was to be supervised directly by CEI staff. CEI decided to perform development work on the reactor as recent as the latter half of 1960 in which the reactor was to be operated at 4.7 MW for a "PL-1 condenser test." As the reactor core aged and boron neutron poison strips corroded and flaked off, CEI calculated that about 18% of the boron in the core had been lost. This resulted in the addition of cadmium sheets (also a poison) on November 11, 1960, which were installed "to several tee slot positions to increase reactor shutdown margin."


title: SL-1

text: The majority of the plant equipment was located in a cylindrical steel reactor building in diameter with an overall height of . The reactor building, known as ARA-602, was made of plate steel, most of which had a thickness of 1/4 inch (6 mm). Access to the building was provided by an ordinary door through an enclosed exterior stairwell from ARA-603, the Support Facilities Building. An emergency exit door was also included, with an exterior stairwell going to the ground level. The reactor building was not a pressure-type containment shell as would have been used for reactors located in populated areas. Nevertheless, the building was able to contain most of the radioactive particles released by the eventual explosion.


title: SL-1

text: The reactor core structure was built for a capacity of 59 fuel assemblies, one startup neutron source assembly, and nine control rods. The core in use, however, had 40 fuel elements and was controlled by five cruciform rods. The five active rods were in the shape of a plus symbol (+) in cross section: one in the center (Rod Number 9), and four on the periphery of the active core (Rods 1, 3, 5, and 7). The control rods were made of thick cadmium, clad with of aluminum. They had an overall span of and an effective length of . The 40 fuel assemblies were composed of nine fuel plates each. The plates were thick, consisting of of uranium-aluminum alloy "meat" covered by of X-8001 aluminum cladding. The meat was long and wide. The water gap between fuel plates was . Water channels within the control rod shrouds was . The initial loading of the 40 assembly core was highly enriched with 93.2% uranium-235 and contained of U-235.


title: SL-1

text: The deliberate choice of a smaller fuel loading element made the region near the center more active than it would have been with 59 fuel assemblies. The four outer control rods were not even used in the smaller core after tests concluded they were not necessary. In the operating SL-1 core, Rods 2, 4, 6, and 8 were dummy rods, had newly-installed cadmium shims, or were filled with test sensors, and were shaped like the capital letter T. The effort to minimize the size of the core gave Rod 9 an abnormally large reactivity worth.


title: SL-1

text: On Tuesday, January 3, 1961, SL-1 was being prepared for restart after a shutdown of eleven days over the holidays. Maintenance procedures required that Rod 9 be manually withdrawn a few inches to reconnect it to its drive mechanism. At 9:01 pm MST, this rod was suddenly withdrawn too far, causing SL-1 to go prompt critical instantly. In four milliseconds, the heat generated by the resulting enormous power excursion caused fuel inside the core to melt and to explosively vaporize. The expanding fuel produced an extreme pressure wave that blasted water upward, striking the top of the reactor vessel with a peak pressure of . The slug of water was propelled at with average pressure of around . This extreme water hammer propelled the entire reactor vessel upward at , while the shield plugs were ejected at . With six holes on the top of the reactor vessel, high pressure water and steam sprayed the entire room with radioactive debris from the damaged core. A later investigation concluded that the (or thirteen short tons) vessel had jumped , parts of it striking the ceiling of the reactor building before settling back into its original location, and depositing insulation and gravel on the operating floor. If not for the vessel's #5 seal housing hitting the overhead crane, the pressure vessel had enough upward momentum to rise about . The excursion, steam explosion, and vessel movement took two to four seconds.


title: SL-1

text: The spray of water and steam knocked two operators onto the floor, killing one and severely injuring another. The No. 7 shield plug from the top of the reactor vessel impaled the third man through his groin and exited his shoulder, pinning him to the ceiling. The victims were Army Specialists Richard Leroy McKinley (age 27) and John A. Byrnes (age 22), and Navy Seabee Construction Electrician First Class (CE1) Richard C. Legg (age 26). It was later established by author Todd Tucker that Byrnes (the reactor operator) had lifted the rod and caused the excursion; Legg (the shift supervisor) was standing on top of the reactor vessel and was impaled and pinned to the ceiling; and McKinley (the trainee) stood nearby. Only McKinley was found alive, unconscious and in deep shock, by rescuers. This was consistent with the analysis of the SL-1 Board of Investigation and with the results of the autopsies, which suggested that Byrnes and Legg died instantly, while McKinley showed signs of diffuse bleeding within his scalp, indicating he survived approximately two hours before succumbing to his wounds. All three men succumbed to their physical trauma.


title: SL-1

text: Early press reports indicated that the explosion may have been due to a chemical reaction, but that was shortly ruled out. Fast neutron activation had occurred to various materials in the room, indicating a nuclear power excursion unlike a properly operating reactor.


title: SL-1

text: In a thermal-neutron reactor such as SL-1, neutrons are moderated (slowed down) to control the nuclear fission process and increase the likelihood of fission with U-235 fuel. Without sufficient moderator, cores such as SL-1 would be unable to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. When the moderator is removed from the core, the chain reaction decreases. Water, when used as a moderator, is maintained under high pressure to keep it liquid. Steam formation in the channels around the nuclear fuel suppresses the chain reaction.


title: SL-1

text: Another control is the effect of the delayed neutrons on the chain reaction in the core. Most neutrons (the neutrons) are produced nearly instantaneously by the fission of U-235. But a few—approximately 0.7 percent in a U-235-fueled reactor operating at steady-state—are produced through the relatively slow radioactive decay of certain fission products. (These fission products are trapped inside the fuel plates in close proximity to the uranium-235 fuel.) The delayed production of a fraction of the neutrons enables reactor power changes to be controlled on a time scale amenable to humans and machinery.


title: SL-1

text: In the case of an ejected control assembly or poison, it is possible for the reactor to become critical (i.e. prompt critical). When the reactor is prompt critical, the time to double the power is of the order of 10 microseconds. The duration necessary for temperature to follow the power level depends on the design of the reactor core. Typically, the coolant temperature lags behind the power by 3 to 5 seconds in a conventional LWR. In the SL-1 design, it was about 6 milliseconds before steam formation started.


title: SL-1

text: SL-1 was constructed with a main central control rod that was capable of producing a very large excess reactivity if it were completely removed. The extra rod worth was in part due to the decision to load only 40 of the 59 fuel assemblies with nuclear fuel, thus making the prototype reactor core more active in the center. In normal operation control rods are withdrawn only far enough to generate sufficient reactivity for a sustained nuclear reaction and power generation. In this accident, however, the additional reactivity was enough to take the reactor prompt critical within an estimated 4 milliseconds. That was too fast for the heat from the fuel to permeate the aluminum cladding and boil enough water to fully stop the power growth in all parts of the core via negative moderator temperature and void feedback.


title: SL-1

text: Post-accident analysis concluded that the final control method (i.e., dissipation of the prompt critical state and the end of the sustained nuclear chain reaction) occurred by means of catastrophic core disassembly: destructive melting, vaporization, and consequent conventional explosive expansion of the parts of the reactor core where the greatest amount of heat was being produced most quickly. It was estimated that this core heating and vaporization process happened in about 7.5 milliseconds, before enough steam had been formed to shut down the reaction, beating the steam shutdown by a few milliseconds. A key statistic makes it clear why the core blew apart: the reactor designed for a 3 MW power output operated momentarily at a peak of about 20 GW, a power density over 6,000 times higher than its safe operating limit. This criticality accident is estimated to have produced 4.4 × 10 fissions, or about energy.


title: SL-1

text: Heat sensors above the reactor set off an alarm at the NRTS security facility at 9:01 pm MST, the time of the accident. False alarms had occurred in the morning and afternoon that same day. The response team of six firemen (Ken Dearden Asst Chief, Mel Hess Lt., Bob Archer, Carl Johnson, Egon Lamprecht, Gerald Stuart, & Vern Conlon) arrived nine minutes later, expecting another false alarm. They noticed nothing unusual at first, with only a little steam rising from the building, normal for the cold night. The firefighters, unable to hail anyone inside the SL-1 facility, had a security guard open the gate for them. They donned their Scott Air-Paks, and arrived at the Support Facilities Building to investigate.


title: SL-1

text: The building appeared normal, but was unoccupied. Three mugs of warm coffee were in the break room and three jackets were hanging nearby. They entered the reactor control room and noticed a radiation warning light. Their handheld radiation detector jumped sharply above its maximum range as they were climbing the stairs to SL-1's reactor operating floor level. This prompted a retreat for a second radiation detector. The second radiation detector also maxed out at its 200 röntgens per hour (R/hr) scale as they ascended again. They peered into the reactor room before withdrawing.


title: SL-1

text: At 9:17 pm, a health physicist arrived; he and Assistant Chief Moshberger, both wearing air tanks and masks with positive pressure in the mask to force out any potential contaminants, approached the reactor building stairs. Their detectors read 25 röntgens per hour (R/hr) as they started up the stairs, and they withdrew. Finding a higher-scale ion chamber detector, the pair reached the top of the stairs to look inside the reactor room for the three missing men. Their Jordan Radector AG-500 meter pegged at 500 R/hr on the way up. They saw a dim, humid, wet, operating floor strewn with rocks and steel punchings, twisted metal, and debris scattered.


title: SL-1

text: The two were joined by three health physicists who donned air packs and went with them back to the reactor floor. The masks on their air packs were fogging up, limiting visibility. McKinley was moving slightly, but his body was partially covered with metal debris, which the rescuers had to quickly remove in order to carry him with a stretcher. Vallario moved debris in his attempt to find the missing crewman. Another man checked the pulse of Byrnes and announced that he was dead. The body of Byrnes was partially covered with steel pellets and blood.


title: SL-1

text: Three men attempted to remove McKinley via the outside stairs, sending one man outside to meet them with a truck. But after carrying McKinley across the operating floor to the exit, they discovered equipment blocking the emergency exit door. This forced the rescuers to reverse course and use the main stairs.


title: SL-1

text: During the movement of McKinley, two men had their Scott Air Paks freeze up and cease to work. Duckworth evacuated due to the malfunction, while Vallario removed his mask and breathed contaminated air to complete the evacuation of McKinley. The rescue took about three minutes.


title: SL-1

text: The evacuation of McKinley turned quickly into a major radiological problem. McKinley was first shuttled into a panel truck and then into the back of an ambulance. The on-call nurse, Helen Leisen, tending to the patient in the back of the ambulance, heard at least a faint breath, perhaps his last. But before the vehicle made it to nearby Highway 20, the AEC doctor had the nurse evacuate and, entering the ambulance, found no pulse. He pronounced the man dead at 11:14 pm. The contaminated ambulance, with the body of McKinley, was driven out into the desert and abandoned for several hours.


title: SL-1

text: Four men had entered into the reactor building at 10:38 pm and found the third man. Legg was discovered last because he was pinned to the ceiling above the reactor by a shield plug and not easily recognizable.


title: SL-1

text: Extensive decontamination was conducted that night. Approximately 30 of the first responders took showers, scrubbed their hands with potassium permanganate, and changed their clothes. The body in the ambulance was later disrobed and returned to the ambulance, which took it to a nearby facility for storage and autopsy.


title: SL-1

text: On the night of January 4, a team of six volunteers worked in pairs to recover Byrnes' body from the SL-1 operating floor. It was taken, also by ambulance, to the same facility.


title: SL-1

text: After four days of planning, the third body, by far the most contaminated, was retrieved. Modifications to the reactor room had to be performed by a welder inside a lead shielded box attached to a crane. On January 9, in relays of two at a time, a team of ten men, allowed no more than 65 seconds exposure each, used sharp hooks on the end of long poles to pull Legg's body free of the No. 7 shield plug, dropping it onto a stretcher attached to a crane outside the building.


title: SL-1

text: Radioactive copper Cu from a cigarette lighter screw on McKinley and a brass watch band buckle from Byrnes both proved that the reactor had indeed gone prompt critical. This was confirmed with several other readings, including gold Au from Legg's wedding ring. Nuclear accident dosimeters inside the reactor plant and particles of uranium from the victim's clothes also provided evidence of the excursion. Prior to the discovery of neutron-activated elements in the men's belongings, scientists had doubted that a nuclear excursion had occurred, believing the reactor was inherently safe. Strontium-91, a major fission product, was also found with the uranium particles. These findings ruled out early speculation that a chemical explosion caused the accident.


title: SL-1

text: Some sources and eyewitness accounts confuse the names and positions of each victim. In "Idaho Falls: The untold story of America's first nuclear accident", the author indicates that the rescue teams identified Byrnes as the man found still alive, believing that Legg's body was the one found next to the reactor shield and recovered the night after the accident, and that McKinley was impaled by the control rod to the ceiling directly above the reactor. The misidentification, caused by the severe blast injuries to the victims, was rectified during the autopsies conducted by Clarence Lushbaugh, but this caused confusion for some time.


title: SL-1

text: The seven rescuers who carried McKinley and received Carnegie Hero awards from the Carnegie Hero Fund were: Paul Duckworth, the SL-1 Operations Supervisor; Sidney Cohen, the SL-1 Test supervisor; William Rausch, SL-1 Assistant Operations Supervisor; Ed Vallario, SL-1 Health Physicist; William Gammill, the on-duty AEC Site Survey Chief; Lovell J. Callister, health physicist, and Delos E. Richards, health physics technician.


title: SL-1

text: One of the required maintenance procedures called for Rod 9 to be manually withdrawn approximately four inches (10 cm) in order to attach it to the automated control mechanism from which it had been disconnected. Post-accident calculations, as well as examination of scratches on Rod 9, estimate that it had actually been withdrawn approximately , causing the reactor to go prompt critical and triggering the steam explosion. The most common theories proposed for the withdrawal of the rod are (1) sabotage or suicide by one of the operators, (2) a murder-suicide involving an affair with the wife of one of the other operators, (3) inadvertent withdrawal of the main control rod, or (4) an intentional attempt to "exercise" the rod (to make it travel more smoothly within its sheath). The maintenance logs do not address what the technicians were attempting to do, and thus the actual cause of the accident will never be known. However, it seems unlikely that it was a suicide.


title: SL-1

text: Post-accident experiments were conducted with an identically weighted mock control rod to determine whether it was possible or feasible for one or two men to have withdrawn Rod 9 by 20 inches. Experiments included a simulation of the possibility that the central rod was stuck and one man freed it himself, reproducing the scenario that investigators considered the best explanation: Byrnes broke the control rod loose and withdrew it accidentally, killing all three men. When testing the theory that Rod 9 was rapidly withdrawn manually, three men took part in timed trials and their efforts were compared to the energy of the nuclear excursion that had occurred.


title: SL-1

text: At SL-1, control rods would get stuck in the control rod channel sporadically. Numerous procedures were conducted to evaluate control rods to ensure they were operating properly. There were rod drop tests and scram tests of each rod, in addition to periodic rod exercising and rod withdrawals for normal operation. From February 1959 to November 18, 1960, there were 40 cases of a stuck control rod for scram and rod drop tests and about a 2.5% failure rate. From November 18 to December 23, 1960, there was a dramatic increase in stuck rods, with 23 in that time period and a 13.0% failure rate. Besides these test failures, there were an additional 21 rod-sticking incidents from February 1959 to December 1960; four of these had occurred in the last month of operation during routine rod withdrawal. Rod 9 had the best operational performance record even though it was operated more frequently than any of the other rods.


title: SL-1

text: Rod sticking has been attributed to misalignment, corrosion product build-up, bearing wear, clutch wear, and drive mechanism seal wear. Many of the failure modes that caused a stuck rod during tests (like bearing and clutch wear) would apply only to a movement performed by the control rod drive mechanism. Since the No. 9 rod is centrally located, its alignment may have been better than Nos. 1, 3, 5, and 7, which were more prone to sticking. After the accident, logbooks and former plant operators were consulted to determine if there had been any rods stuck during the reassembly operation that Byrnes was performing. One person had performed this about 300 times, and another 250 times; neither had ever felt a control rod stick when being manually raised during this procedure. Furthermore, no one had ever reported a stuck rod during manual reconnection.


title: SL-1

text: During congressional hearings in June 1961, the SL-1 Project Manager, W. B. Allred, admitted that the lack of supervision by CEI of SL-1 plant operation on an "around-the-clock basis" was because the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) had rejected the idea "for budget reasons." Allred was also grilled on the matter of increased rod sticking between November 16, 1960, and the final shutdown on December 23. Of the increase, Allred stated, "I was not completely aware of significant increase" and, "I was not aware that this sharp increase had occurred." When asked who was the person responsible for informing him of the sticking problem, Allred stated that Paul Duckworth, the SL-1 Operations Supervisor, should have reported this to him but did not. When pressed, Allred stated that if he had known of the increased control rod sticking, he "would have shut the plant down for more detailed examination."


title: SL-1

text: The accident caused SL-1's design to be abandoned and future reactors to be designed so that a single control rod removal would not have the ability to produce very large excess reactivity. Today this is known as the "one stuck rod" criterion and requires complete shutdown capability even with the most reactive rod stuck in the fully withdrawn position. The documentation and procedures required for operating nuclear reactors expanded substantially, becoming far more formal as procedures that had previously taken two pages expanded to hundreds. Radiation meters were changed to allow higher ranges for emergency response activities.


title: SL-1

text: Although portions of the center of SL-1's core had been vaporized briefly, very little corium was recovered. The fuel plates showed signs of catastrophic destruction leaving voids, but "no appreciable amount of glazed molten material was recovered or observed." Additionally, "There is no evidence of molten material having flowed out between the plates." It is believed that rapid cooling of the core was responsible for the small amount of molten material. There was insufficient heat generated for any corium to reach or penetrate the bottom of the reactor vessel.


title: SL-1

text: Despite the SL-1 reactor building containing most of the radioactivity, iodine-131 levels on plant buildings reached fifty times background levels downwind during several days of monitoring. Radiation surveys of the Support Facilities Building, for example, indicated high contamination in halls, but light contamination in offices. Radiation exposure limits prior to the accident were 100 röntgens to save a life and 25 to save valuable property. During the response to the accident, 22 people received doses of 3 to 27 Röntgens full-body exposure. Removal of radioactive waste and disposal of the three bodies eventually exposed 790 people to harmful levels of radiation. In March 1962, the AEC awarded certificates of heroism to 32 participants in the response.


title: SL-1

text: After a pause for evaluation of procedures, the Army continued its use of reactors, operating the Mobile Low-Power Reactor (ML-1), which started full power operation on February 28, 1963, becoming the smallest nuclear power plant on record to do so. This design was eventually abandoned after corrosion problems. While the tests had shown that nuclear power was likely to have lower total costs, the financial pressures of the Vietnam War caused the Army to favor lower initial costs and it stopped the development of its reactor program in 1965, although the existing reactors continued operating (MH-1A until 1977).


title: SL-1

text: General Electric was tasked with the removal of the reactor vessel and the dismantling and cleanup of the contaminated buildings at the SL-1 project site. The site was cleaned from 1961 to 1962, removing the bulk of the contaminated debris and burying it. The massive cleanup operation included the transport of the reactor vessel to a nearby "hot shop" for extensive analysis. Other items of less importance were either disposed of or transported to decontamination sites for various kinds of cleaning. About 475 people took part in the SL-1 site cleanup, including volunteers from the U.S. Army and the Atomic Energy Commission.


title: SL-1

text: The recovery operation included clearing the operating room floor of radioactive debris. The extremely high radiation areas surrounding the reactor vessel and the fan room directly above it contributed to the difficulty of recovering the reactor vessel. Remotely operated equipment, cranes, boom trucks, and safety precautions had to be developed and tested by the recovery team. Radiation surveys and photographic analysis was used to determine what items needed to be removed from the building first. Powerful vacuum cleaners, operated manually by teams of men, collected vast quantities of debris. The manual overhead crane above the operating floor was used to move numerous heavy objects weighing up to for them to be dumped out onto the ground outside. Hot spots up to 400 R/hr were discovered and removed from the work area.


title: SL-1

text: With the operating room floor relatively clean and radiation fields manageable, the manual overhead crane was employed to do a trial lift of the reactor vessel. The crane was fitted with a dial-type load indicator and the vessel was lifted a few inches. The successful test found that the estimated vessel plus an unknown amount of debris weighed about . After removing a large amount of the building structure above the reactor vessel, a 60-ton Manitowoc Model 3900 crane lifted the vessel out of the building into an awaiting transport cask attached to a tractor-trailer combination with a low-boy 60-ton capacity trailer. After raising or removing 45 power lines, phone lines, and guy wires from the proposed roadway, the tractor-trailer, accompanied by numerous observers and supervisors, proceeded at about to the ANP Hot Shop (originally associated with the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program), located in a remote area of the NRTS known as Test Area North, about away.


title: SL-1

text: A burial ground was constructed approximately northeast of the original site of the reactor. It was opened on May 21, 1961. Burial of the waste helped minimize radiation exposure to the public and site workers that would have resulted from transport of contaminated debris from SL-1 to the Radioactive-Waste Management Complex over of public highway. The original cleanup of the site took about 24 months. The entire reactor building, contaminated materials from nearby buildings, and soil and gravel contaminated during cleanup operations were disposed of in the burial ground. The majority of buried materials consist of soils and gravel.


title: SL-1

text: Recovered portions of the reactor core, including the fuel and all other parts of the reactor that were important to the accident investigation, were taken to the ANP Hot Shop for study. After the accident investigation was complete, the reactor fuel was sent to the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant for reprocessing. The reactor core minus the fuel, along with the other components sent to the Hot Shop for study, was eventually disposed of at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex.


title: SL-1

text: The remains of SL-1 are now buried near the original site at . The burial site consists of three excavations, in which a total volume of 99,000 cubic feet (2800 m) of contaminated material was deposited. The excavations were dug as close to basalt as the equipment used would allow and ranges from eight to fourteen feet (2.4 to 4.3 m) in depth. At least two feet (0.6 m) of clean backfill was placed over each excavation. Shallow mounds of soil over the excavations were added at the completion of cleanup activities in September 1962. The site and burial mound are collectively known as United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Operable Unit 5-05.


title: SL-1

text: Numerous radiation surveys and cleanup of the surface of the burial ground and surrounding area have been performed in the years since the SL-1 accident. Aerial surveys were performed by EG&G Las Vegas in 1974, 1982, 1990, and 1993. The Radiological and Environmental Sciences Laboratory conducted gamma radiation surveys every three to four years between 1973 and 1987 and every year between 1987 and 1994. Particle-picking at the site was performed in 1985 and 1993. Results from the surveys indicated that cesium-137 and its progeny (decay products) are the primary surface-soil contaminants. During a survey of surface soil in June 1994, "hot spots," areas of higher radioactivity, were found within the burial ground with activities ranging from 0.1 to 50 milliroentgen (mR)/hour. On November 17, 1994, the highest radiation reading measured at 2.5 feet (0.75 m) above the surface at the SL-1 burial ground was 0.5 mR/hour; local background radiation was 0.2 mR/hour. A 1995 assessment by the EPA recommended that a cap be placed over the burial mounds. The primary remedy for SL-1 was to be containment by capping with an engineered barrier constructed primarily of native materials. This remedial action was completed in 2000 and first reviewed by the EPA in 2003.


title: SL-1

text: The U.S. government produced a film about the accident for internal use in the 1960s. The video was subsequently released and can be viewed at The Internet Archive and YouTube. "SL-1" is the title of a 1983 movie, written and directed by Diane Orr and C. Larry Roberts, about the nuclear reactor explosion. Interviews with scientists, archival film, and contemporary footage, as well as slow-motion sequences, are used in the film. The events of the accident are also the subject of one book: "Idaho Falls: The untold story of America's first nuclear accident" (2003) and 2 chapters in "Proving the Principle – A History of The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, 1949–1999" (2000).


title: SL-1

text: In 1975, the anti-nuclear book "We Almost Lost Detroit", by John G. Fuller was published, referring at one point to the Idaho Falls accident. "Prompt Critical" is the title of a 2012 short film, viewable on YouTube, written and directed by James Lawrence Sicard, dramatizing the events surrounding the SL-1 accident. A documentary about the accident was shown on the History Channel.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Siberia, including the Russian Far East, is a vast region spanning the northern part of the Asian continent, and forming the Asiatic portion of Russia. As a result of the Russian conquest of Siberia (17th to 19th centuries) and of the subsequent population movements during the Soviet era (1917-1991), the modern-day demographics of Siberia is dominated by ethnic Russians (Siberiaks) and other Slavs. However, there remains a slowly increasing number of indigenous groups, between them, accounting for about 10% of the total Siberian population (about 4,500,000), some of which are closely genetically related to indigenous peoples of the Americas.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: In Kamchatka, the Itelmens' uprisings against Russian rule in 1706, 1731, and 1741, were crushed. During the first uprising the Itelmen were armed with only stone weapons, but in later uprisings they used gunpowder weapons. The Russian Cossacks faced tougher resistance from the Koryaks, who revolted with bows and guns from 1745 to 1756, and were even forced to give up in their attempts to wipe out the Chukchi in 1729, 1730–31, and 1744–47. After the Russian defeat in 1729 at Chukchi hands, the Russian commander Major Dmitry Pavlutsky was responsible for the Russian war against the Chukchi and the mass slaughters and enslavement of Chukchi women and children in 1730–31, but his cruelty only made the Chukchis fight more fiercely. A war against the Chukchis and Koryaks was ordered by Empress Elizabeth in 1742 to totally expel them from their native lands and erase their culture through war. The command was that the natives be "totally extirpated" with Pavlutskiy leading again in this war from 1744 to 1747 in which he led to the Cossacks "with the help of Almighty God and to the good fortune of Her Imperial Highness", to slaughter the Chukchi men and enslave their women and children as booty. However this phase of the war came to an inconclusive end, when the Chukchi forced them to give up by killing Pavlutskiy and decapitating him.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: The Russians also launched wars and conducted mass slaughters against the Koryaks in 1744 and 1753–54. After the Russians tried to force the natives to convert to Christianity, different native peoples such as the Koryaks, Chukchis, Itelmens, and Yukaghirs all united to drive the Russians out of their land in the 1740s, culminating in the assault on Nizhnekamchatsk fort in 1746. After its annexation by Russia in 1697, around 100,000 of 150,000 Itelmen and Koryaks died due to infectious diseases such as smallpox, mass suicides and the mass slaughters perpetrated by the Cossacks throughout the first decades of Russian rule. The genocide by the Russian Cossacks devastated the native peoples of Kamchatka and exterminated much of their population. In addition to committing genocide, the Cossacks also devastated the wildlife by slaughtering massive numbers of animals for fur. Ninety percent of the Kamchadals and half of the Vogules were killed from the 18th to 19th centuries and the rapid genocide of the indigenous population led to entire ethnic groups being entirely wiped out, with around 12 exterminated groups which could be named by Nikolai Iadrintsev as of 1882. Much of the slaughter was brought on by the Siberian fur trade.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: In the 17th century, indigenous peoples of the Amur region were attacked and colonized by Russians who came to be known as "red-beards". The Russian Cossacks were named luocha (羅剎) or rakshasa by Amur natives, after demons found in Buddhist mythology. The natives of the Amur region feared the invaders as they ruthlessly colonized the Amur tribes, who were tributaries of the Qing dynasty during the Sino–Russian border conflicts. Qing forces and Korean musketeers who were allied with the Qing defeated the Cossacks in 1658, which kept the Russians out of the inner reaches of the Amur region for decades.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: The regionalist oblastniki were, in the 19th century, among the Russians in Siberia who acknowledged that the natives were subjected to violence of almost genocidal proportions by the Russian colonization. They claimed that they would rectify the situation with their proposed regionalist policies. The colonizers used massacres, alcoholism and disease to bring the natives under their control, some small nomadic groups essentially disappeared, and much of the evidence of their obliteration has itself been destroyed, with only a few artifacts documenting their presence remaining in Russian museums and collections.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: The Russian colonization of Siberia and conquest of its indigenous peoples has been compared to European colonization in the United States and its natives, with similar negative impacts on the natives and the appropriation of their land.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: From 1918 to 1921, there was a violent revolutionary upheaval in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. Russian Cossacks under Captain Grigori Semionov established themselves as warlords by crushing the indigenous peoples who resisted them. The Czechoslovak Legion initially took control of Vladivostok and controlled all of the territory along the Trans-Siberian Railway by September 1918. The Legion later declared its neutrality and was evacuated via Vladivostok.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Today, Kamchatka is largely populated by a Russian majority, although decreasing, with a slowly increasing indigenous population. The Slavic Russians outnumber all of the native peoples in Siberia and its cities except in Tuva and Sakha (where the Tuvans and Yakuts serve as the majority ethnic groups respectively), with the Slavic Russians making up the majority in Buryatia and the Altai Republic, outnumbering the Buryat and Altaian natives. The Buryats make about 30% of their own Republic, the Altaians make up about 33% Altaian, and the Chukchi, Evenks, Khanty, Mansi, and Nenets are outnumbered by non-natives by nearly 90% of the population. The Czars and Soviets enacted policies to force natives to change their way of life, while rewarding ethnic Russians with the natives' reindeer herds and wild game they had confiscated. The reindeer herds have been mismanaged to the point of extinction.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Classifying the diverse population by language, it includes speakers of the following language families (number of speakers reflect the 2002 Russian census):


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Altaic has not been proven to be a language family, a phylogenetic unit. It may be a Sprachbund. Paleosiberian is simply a geographic term of convenience. Here, these two terms are listed just to serve as portal-like starting points – without suggesting genetic considerations.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Ainu languages are spoken on Sakhalin, Hokkaido, the Kurils, and on the Kamchatka Peninsula, as well as in the Amur region. Today, Ainu is nearly extinct, with the last native speakers remaining in Hokkaido and on Kamchatka.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: The Buryats number 461,389 in Russia according to the 2010 census, which makes them the second largest ethnic minority group in Siberia. They are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia. They are the northernmost major group of the Mongols.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Buryats share many customs with their Mongolian cousins, including nomadic herding and erecting huts for shelter. Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan Ude, the capital of the republic, although many live more traditionally in the countryside. Their language is called Buryat.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: In Zabaykalsky Krai of Russia, in Mongolia and China, there are also the Hamnigans—a Mongolic ethno-linguistic (sub)group as Mongolized Evenks.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Four small language families and isolates, not known to have any linguistic relationship to each other, compose the Paleo-Siberian languages:


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: The Udege, Ulchs, Evens, and Nanai (also known as Hezhen) are also indigenous peoples of Siberia, and are known to share genetic affinity to indigenous peoples of the Americas.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: The Khanty (obsolete: Ostyaks) and Mansi (obsolete: Voguls) live in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as "Yugra" in Russia. By 2013, oil and gas companies had already devastated much of the Khanty tribes' lands. In 2014 the Khanty-Mansi regional parliament continued to weaken legislation that had previously protected Khanty and Mansi communities. Tribes' permission was required before oil and gas companies could enter their land.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Yukaghir is spoken in two mutually unintelligible varieties in the lower Kolyma and Indigirka valleys. Other languages, including Chuvantsy, spoken further inland and further east, are now extinct. Yukaghir is held by some to be related to the Uralic languages in the Uralic–Yukaghir family.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: The Yukaghirs (self-designation: одул "odul", деткиль "detkil") are people in East Siberia, living in the basin of the Kolyma River. The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region in the Sakha Republic; the Taiga Yukaghirs in the Upper Kolyma region in the Sakha Republic and in Srednekansky District of Magadan Oblast. By the time of Russian colonization in the 17th century, the Yukaghir tribal groups (Chuvans, Khodyns, Anauls, etc.) occupied territories from the Lena River to the mouth of the Anadyr River. The number of the Yukaghirs decreased between the 17th and 19th centuries due to epidemics, internecine wars and Tsarist colonial policy. Some of the Yukaghirs have assimilated with the Yakuts, Evens, and Russians. Currently Yukaghirs live in the Sakha Republic and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation. According to the 2002 Census, their total number was 1,509 people, up from 1,112 recorded in the 1989 Census.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Paleo-Indians from modern day Siberia are thought to have crossed into the Americas across the Beringia land bridge between 40,000 and 13,000 years ago. Paleo-Siberians are closely related to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, with whom they share a common origin. The ancestor of Paleo-Siberians diverged from Ancient East Asians in Mainland Southeast Asia or Southern China about 36,000 years ago and expanded northwards into Siberia, where they encountered and interacted with a different Upper-Paleolithic Siberian population (known as Ancient North Eurasians), giving rise to both Paleosiberian peoples and Ancient Native Americans, which later migrated towards the Beringian region, became isolated from other populations, and subsequently populated the Americas. Genetic analyses found significant affinity between Paleo-Siberians and East Asians, as well as varying degrees of deep European-related ancestry among both Paleo-Siberians and Native Americans. Further northwards geneflow from Northeast Asia later resulted in the distribution of modern 'Neo-Siberians' and the partial replacement of Paleo-Siberians.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Analysis of genetic markers has also been used to link the two groups of indigenous peoples. Studies focused on looking at markers on the Y chromosome, which is always inherited by sons from their fathers. Haplogroup Q is a unique mutation shared among most indigenous peoples of the Americas. Studies have found that 93.8% of Siberia's Ket people and 66.4% of Siberia's Selkup people possess the mutation. The principal-component analysis suggests a close genetic relatedness between some North American Amerindians (the Chipewyan [Ojibwe] and the Cheyenne) and certain populations of central/southern Siberia (particularly the Kets, Yakuts, Selkups, and Altaians), at the resolution of major Y-chromosome haplogroups. This pattern agrees with the distribution of mtDNA haplogroup X, which is found in North America, is absent from eastern Siberia, but is present in the Altaians of southern central Siberia.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: Kutkh (also Kutkha, Kootkha, Kutq Kutcha and other variants, Russian: Кутх), is a raven spirit traditionally revered by the Chukchi and other Siberian tribal groups. He is said to be very powerful.


title: Indigenous peoples of Siberia

text: The Chukchi also respect reindeer in both mortal and holy life. They have several rituals involving them.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The Caro–Kann is a common defence against the King's Pawn Opening. It is classified as a Semi-Open Game, like the Sicilian Defence and French Defence, although it is thought to be more solid and less dynamic than either of those openings. It often leads to good endgames for Black, who has the better pawn structure. It allows Black to circumvent enormous bodies of theory in 1.e4 openings such as the Ruy Lopez and the Sicilian Defence.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: Unlike its sister opening, the French Defence, the Caro–Kann does not hinder the development of Black's light-squared bishop. However, it comes at the cost of a tempo because Black has to play 1...c6 before pushing the pawn to c5, whereas Black can push c7–c5 in one move in the French Defence. White can combat the Caro–Kann in several different ways, often gaining a space advantage; additionally, Black has less mobility and can lag in development.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: In the 21st century, grandmasters Vladislav Artemiev and Alireza Firouzja use the opening with regularity, while Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura use it on occasion.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The opening is named after the English player Horatio Caro and the Austrian player Marcus Kann, both of whom analysed it in 1886. Kann scored an impressive 24-move victory with the Caro–Kann Defence against German-British chess champion Jacques Mieses at the 4th German Chess Congress in Hamburg in May 1885:


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: After 2. the most common moves are 3. (Classical and Modern variations), 3., 3. (Exchange Variation), and 3. (Advance Variation).


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: 3.Nc3 and 3.Nd2 usually transpose into each other after 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4. Since the 1970s, 3.Nd2 has increased in popularity to avoid the Gurgenidze Variation (3.Nc3 g6); however, some players choose to allow it.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The most common way of handling the Caro–Kann, the Classical Variation (often referred to as the Capablanca Variation after Cuban grandmaster José Raúl Capablanca), is defined by the moves: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 (or 3.Nd2) dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5. This was long considered to represent best play for both sides in the Caro–Kann. White usually continues: 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3. Although White's pawn on h5 looks ready to attack, it can prove to be a weakness in an endgame.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: Much of the Caro–Kann's reputation as a defence stems from this variation. Black makes very few compromises in pawn structure and plays a timely ...c6–c5 to contest the d4-square. Variations with Black castling gave the Caro–Kann its reputation of being solid but somewhat boring. More popular recently are variations with Black castling and even leaving his king in the . These variations can be and dynamic.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: Here is a illustrating White's attacking chances when the players castle on opposite sides in the Classical Variation:


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: Another solid line, this variation is characterised by the moves: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 (or 3.Nd2) dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7. At one time named after the first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, nowadays the variation is variously referred to as the Smyslov Variation after the seventh world champion Vasily Smyslov who played a number of notable games with it; the Karpov Variation, after the twelfth world champion Anatoly Karpov, in whose repertoire it appeared quite often; or, most commonly, the Modern Variation. The short-term goal of 4...Nd7 is to ease by the early exchange of a pair of knights without compromising the structural integrity of Black's position. Play is similar to the Classical Variation except that Black has more freedom by delaying the development of his bishop, and is not forced to play it to the g6-square. This freedom comes at a cost, however, as White enjoys added freedom in taking up space in the centre, and often plays the aggressive 5.Ng5 where Black's development is brought into question as well as the positional weakness of the f7-square. The famous last game of the Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov rematch where Kasparov committed a known blunder and lost was played in this very line.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: Specialist knowledge is a must to play this opening. Otherwise Black could fall prey to early attacks such as the quick mating for White, 5.Qe2 followed by 6.Nd6#.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: Black has voluntarily opted for an inferior pawn structure and a practical necessity of castling queenside, while gaining dynamic compensation in the form of the open g-file for the rook and unusually active play for the Caro–Kann. It is generally considered somewhat unsound, though world championship challenger David Bronstein and former world championship candidate Bent Larsen employed it with some success.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: Viktor Korchnoi played 5...exf6 many times (including his first world championship match with Anatoly Karpov), and this line has also been employed by Ulf Andersson. Black's 5...exf6 is regarded as sounder than 5...gxf6!? of the Bronstein–Larsen Variation and offers Black rapid development, though also ceding White the superior pawn structure and long-term prospects (Black has to be cautious that the d-pawn is now a potential passed pawn in the endgame).


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The Gurgenidze Variation is 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 g6. Black prepares to fianchetto the bishop on g7, creating pressure against White's d4-pawn. After 4.Nf3 Bg7 White usually plays 5.h3 to prevent the ...Bg4 pin. This variation, originated by Bukhuti Gurgenidze, led to a rise in the popularity of 3.Nd2 during the 1970s. After 3.Nd2, 3...g6 is met by 4.c3, when the fianchettoed bishop has little to do because of a dark squared pawn chain. 3.Nd2 will usually transpose into the Classical Variation after 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The 3...Bf5 variation that follows 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 has gained popularity after having previously been widely regarded as inferior for many years, owing chiefly to the strategic demolition that Aron Nimzowitsch (playing as White) suffered at the hands of José Capablanca in one of their games at the New York 1927 tournament.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The Advance Variation has since been revitalized by aggressive lines such as the Bayonet Attack (4.Nc3 e6 5.g4), a popular line in the 1980s and later favoured by Latvian grandmaster Alexei Shirov, or the less ambitious variation 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3, popularised by English grandmaster Nigel Short and often seen in the 1990s. Another less popular but aggressive line is the Tal variation (4.h4 h5), popularised by grandmaster Mikhail Tal.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The 3...c5 variation that follows 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5!? is an important alternative and avoids the weight of theory associated with 3...Bf5. It was used by Mikhail Botvinnik in his 1961 match versus Mikhail Tal (though with a negative outcome for Botvinnik – two draws and a loss). The line was christened the "Arkell/Khenkin Variation" in the leading chess magazine "New in Chess" yearbook 42 in recognition of the work these two grandmasters did and the success they were having with the variation. In comparison to the French Defence, Black lacks the tempo normally spent on ...e6; however, White can only exploit this by the weakening of his own central with 4.dxc5 when Black has good chances of regaining the pawn.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The Exchange Variation begins with 4.Bd3 (to prevent ...Bf5 while still developing) 4...Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3. This line is considered to offer White a slightly better game, and was tried by Bobby Fischer. Some of the strategic ideas are analogous to the Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange Variation, (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5) with colours reversed.


title: Caro–Kann Defence

text: The Panov–Botvinnik Attack begins with the move 4.c4. It is named after Vasily Panov and the world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. This system often leads to typical (IQP) positions, with White obtaining rapid development, a grip on e5, and kingside attacking chances to compensate for the long-term structural weakness of the isolated d4-pawn. The major variation in this line is 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3, when Black's main alternatives are 6...Bb4 (a position often transposing into lines of the Nimzo-Indian Defence) and 6...Be7, once the most common line. 6...Nc6?! is inferior as it is favourably met by 7.c5!, after which White plans on seizing the e5-square by advancing the b-pawn to b5, or by exchanging the black knight on c6 after Bb5.