Rickover 's stringent standards are largely credited with being responsible for the U.S. Navy 's continuing record of zero reactor accidents ( defined as the uncontrolled release of fission products to the environment resulting from damage to a reactor core ) . He made it a point to be aboard during the initial sea trial of almost every nuclear submarine completing its new-construction period . Following the Three Mile Island meltdown on March 28 , 1979 , Admiral Rickover was asked to testify before Congress in the general context of answering the question as to why naval nuclear propulsion had succeeded in achieving a record of zero reactor-accidents , as opposed to the dramatic one that had just taken place . In his testimony , he said : I am always chagrined at the tendency of people to expect that I have a simple , easy gimmick that makes my program function . Any successful program functions as an integrated whole of many factors . Trying to select one aspect as the key one will not work . Each element depends on all the others . The accident-free record of United States Navy reactor operations stands in stark contrast to those of the Soviet Union , which had fourteen known reactor accidents . As stated in a retrospective analysis in October 2007 : U.S. submarines far outperformed the Soviet ones in the crucial area of stealth , and Rickover 's obsessive fixation on safety and quality control gave the U.S. nuclear Navy a vastly superior safety record to the Soviet one . As head of Naval Reactors , Rickover 's focus and responsibilities were dedicated to reactor safety rather than tactical or strategic submarine warfare training . However , this extreme focus was well known during Rickover 's era as a potential hindrance to balancing operational priorities . One way by which this was addressed after the admiral retired was that only the very strongest , former at-sea submarine commanders have held Rickover 's now unique eight-year position as NAVSEA-08 , the longest chartered tenure in the U.S. military . From Rickover 's first replacement , Kinnaird R. McKee , to today 's head of Naval Reactors , James F. Caldwell , Jr. , all have held command of nuclear submarines , their squadrons and ocean fleets , but not one has been a long-term Engineering Duty Officer such as Rickover
Three Mile Island meltdown
Three Mile Island accident
Hyman G. Rickover