As we travelled down Highway 26 after leaving Craters of the Moon National Monument, we drove through a small town with a population of 900. We passed this sign on a building:
WHAAAT?!
It turns out the first working nuclear reactors were part of a large nuclear research facility in the desert of southeastern Idaho, so we went further down Hwy 26 where we found:
THE WORLD’S FIRST WORKING NUCLEAR REACTOR
EBR1 (Experimental Breeder Reactor) was constructed following WWII. On December 20, 1951, it lit four 200-watt light bulbs which is not very impressive but it was the first time nuclear energy was harnessed to make electricity. After the trial with the four light bulbs, they were able to provide all the electricity for the facility. EBR1 was in use 12 years.
There are self-guided tours of EBR1 every summer. Here is a short YouTube video about EBR1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPxAxBul1BI
The Idaho National Laboratory covers 890 acres, employs 5,000 people and has built 52 nuclear reactors. One of the early reactors, BORAX III, is the reactor that provided electricity to Arco, Idaho (above).
THE FIRST NUCLEAR REACTOR ACCIDENT
WHAAAT?!
On 11/29/55 while doing tests on coolant flow in EBRI, there was a nuclear accident with a partial core meltdown. The reactor was shut down right away. No one was injured, but about 50% of the core melted and had to be removed. They took the core to a cave to contain the radioactivity. In the cave they disassembled the core to study it. The core was repaired and reloaded with plutonium and remained in operation until 1963.
One of the scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory made a LEGO model of EBR1. It didn’t get enough votes to be made into a LEGO kit but here is an interesting blog post about the model:
https://neutronbytes.com/2019/05/11/ebr-i-lives-again-in-lego/
Stay tuned for Geek Idaho 3.
