David Applebee

David Applebee was a Navy Health Physicist and worked at the SM-1A Nuclear Power Plant at Fort Greely, Alaska from August 1969 to May 1971. He enlisted in the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman first class and served as a health physicist before receiving certification as a second class and then a first class operator. Prior to working at Fort Greely, David graduated from the Army Nuclear Power Program's school at Fort Belvoir, Virginia and worked as an environmental monitor on the SM-1. His daily work at SM-1A included sampling for radioactivity and contamination at various locations in the reactor compound, and testing samples in the on-site chemistry lab. Work in the chemistry lab included monitoring primary and secondary systems, and everything else from adjusting the water for hardness and chlorides to modifying the chemical content of water in the systems to maintain a stable balance. After completing his assignment at Fort Greely in May 1971, David returned to Fort Belvoir to support the establishment of the new Radiological Affairs Support Office and the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Program. He retired from the Navy in 1972 and did not continue his work in the nuclear industry. However, his work at Fort Greely inspired David and his family to move to Alaska permanently where they could continue to hunt, fish, and enjoy the wilderness. He founded a business that manufactured liners for oil pits during the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which he sold in 1995 upon his retirement. He resides in Soldotna, Alaska.