I was there once in 1991 for a general tour and again in 1992 for a conference. There are some very bright people there, but then who would expect any less at MIT? They were very friendly to me. The Millstone manager introduced me as "he's the guy who signs our paychecks." Not literally, of course, but I was responsible for getting their funding. Heady stuff for a lowly captain.

One of my biggest coups as program manager was getting the money to buy them some new Klystrons for Millstone. If memory serves, it took two Klystrons to power Millstone. They were long lead-time items (a year or more from order to delivery) and cost somewhere around $70,000 each. Their spares supply was running low. Based on decades of operational experience, they knew that they'd be in trouble within a year or so if we didn't get new Klystrons on order. There wasn't any money in the current year budget to buy the Klystrons but I found a loophole that allowed us to use prior year money. The manager had never known a trick like that was possible. Yes, he was very nice to me. I even got to go up on the catwalk beneath the antenna and take in the spendor of a New England autumn. Such a beautiful sight! I'd love to go there again but hate driving in Boston.