Ah, dear old Windscale. They really innovated the concept of “human robots”.
“Who needs control rods? Why don’t we just push the fuel through… by hand!”
“But, sir, won’t it just fall out the other end all hot and radiationy?”
“Ok, we’ll put in a puddle on the backside for them to fall into. Just be sure not to make it large enough for them to actually all fall into. Go to keep those human robots occupied!”
There’s a good BBC doc that covers it. And you’re right, they really took their unfounded sense of capability to a whole other level.
