Cold-Fusion Lab Blast Kills Scientist, Hurts 3

MENLO PARK, Calif. - A 33-year-old scientist was killed and three other researchers injured yesterday when a cold fusion-related experiment exploded at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park.

The scientist who was killed was identified today as Andrew Riley, 33. He suffered massive head and upper-body injuries, said San Mateo County chief deputy coroner Steve Hortin.

Stuart Smedley, 48, and Michael McKubre, 43, suffered face and arm injuries from flying debris and were released late yesterday from Stanford University Hospital, a spokeswoman said. The third injured researcher also was treated and released, although his name was not released.

Riley was a contract scientist with Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) of Palo Alto, Calif., according to SRI spokesman Dennis Maxwell.

SRI officials said they didn't yet know what caused the experiment, which had been in progress for months, to go wrong.

An estimated 50 to 75 workers were evacuated from the building after the blast.

The experiment involved five high-pressure cylinders containing volatile gases, including the one that exploded and a second one that bomb-squad personnel from the fire district and the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department were able to depressurize. The remaining three cylinders were removed from the lab and temporarily buried at SRI. Those three were to be disposed of today, Menlo Park Fire District officials said.

The three containers still had "some potential for explosion" and were packed in buckets of sand, lowered out a window of the second-story lab and trucked to the SRI burial site, said Menlo Park Fire Capt. Paul Young. The cylinders are about 6 inches long and 2 inches in diameter, he said.

Lab windows were shattered and lab equipment was damaged in the blast, he said.

Four people were working in the living-room-size lab when a loud report shook the building at 11:15 a.m.

Workers told Maxwell the explosion sounded "as if someone had pushed a bookcase over. . . . "

The three injured researchers were able to get out of the room on their own, Maxwell said.

Riley's body was left in the lab while firefighters and other officials determined the stability of the remaining experimental setups, Maxwell said.

After the explosion, the Menlo Park Fire Department checked the lab for radioactivity but didn't find a dangerous radiation level.

-- Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.