Edison and the US Department of Justice appealed to the US Supreme Court. Construction continued in the meantime. On 12 June, the Supreme Court found in favor of Fermi 1. The majority opinion stated that the two-stage process of allowing construction and then operational licenses was valid "enough to satisfy the arguments of law." The minority opinion noted that allowing construction meant the companies involved would have invested millions in construction and by the time that is complete and that "The legislative history makes clear the time when the issue of safety must be resolved is before the Commission issues a construction permit." The first of 105 fuel pins arrived on 9 June 1961 and the AEC issued an extended construction license to deal with the ongoing delays. Further issues impeded progress; the plug that sealed the top of the reactor had to be changed, and it was found that sodium was reacting with the graphite shielding inside the reactor. This caused another 15-month delay and added $2.5 million in construction costs. The AEC issued another construction license extension to cover it. Through this period, Walter McCarthy headed up the operational license application. With construction largely complete in the fall of 1962 the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safety met again in October 1962 to consider the operational aspects. They cleared the reactor for fuel loading and operation at of its nameplate power. Operation and review would be required before it could be brought to the next level of 200,000 kW of output, and finally to its design power of 400,000 kW thermal. On 11 December 1962, Reuther filed a motion to delay the operational hearings while the UAW prepared its case. The next day, an overheating of the cooling water caused a string of events that dropped hot sodium out of the reactor, which immediately burst into flame. Reuther seized on the event as had the fuel been loaded it would have resulted in a serious radiation accident, which was picked up by the press, especially in Washington. The UAW case ultimately went nowhere, and the provisional operational license was approved. Initial operations and meltdown Final fuel loading began on 12 July 1963, and the initial chain reaction was successfully achieved at 12:35 PM on 23 August 1963. The reactor was operated at low power levels through the next year as many minor issues were found and worked out. By