Richard McCardell was a nuclear engineer at the National Reactor Testing Station (today Idaho National Laboratory).
A native of Idaho, McCardell worked a series of jobs before graduating from Pocatello High School. In 1962, he earned his master’s degree in physics at Idaho State University and began working at the National Reactor Testing Station, where he was involved with the Special Power Excursion Reactor Test, or “SPERT,” a series of reactor tests in Idaho Falls.