Cosmos 954

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First found Cosmos-954 debris

Cosmos 954 was a Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite (RORSAT) with an onboard nuclear reactor. The satellite's reactor core failed to separate and boost into a nuclear-safe orbit, and instead remained onboard in an orbit that decayed until the satellite reentered Earth's atmosphere on January 24, 1978. The satellite crashed in the Northwest Territories, Canada, spreading its radioactive fuel on a 600-kilometre (370 mi) path from Great Slave Lake to Baker Lake. In an attempt to recover radioactive material, a search was conducted covering a total of 124,000 square kilometres (48,000 sq mi).

Operation Morning Light Logo

Subsequent recovery efforts, named Operation Morning Light, by a joint American-Canadian team swept the area by foot and air until the spring ice breakup in April made further searches impractical. They were ultimately able to recover 12 larger pieces of the satellite. These pieces displayed radioactivity of up to 1.1 sieverts per hour, yet they only comprised an estimated 1% of the fuel. For these recovery efforts, the Canadian Government billed the Soviet Union $6,041,174.70 for actual expenses and additional compensation for future unpredicted expenses; the U.S.S.R. eventually paid the sum of 3 million dollars.