IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY
Experimental Breeder Reactor-I
Construction of EBR-I began in 1949 at the National Reactor Testing Station, now INL. After one failed attempt in May 1951, on August 24 of that same year EBR-I was brought to criticality, a self-sustaining chain reaction. On December 20, 1951 EBR-I became the first power plant to produce useable electricity with atomic energy when it lit for light bulbs. EBR-I's main mission was to test the achievability of fuel breeding, whereby more nuclear fuel is created than the reactor itself consumes operating. On June 4, 1953, the EBR-1 demonstrated the first nuclear breeding when analysis showed that it was creating an atom of nuclear fuel for each one that it burned. In 1962, EBR-I became the first reactor in the world to produce electricity with a plutonium core. EBR-I continued be operated for research until December 30, 1963. In 1964 it was decommissioned. On August 25, 1966 it was dedicated as a Registered National Historic Landmark. Two prototype engines for the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion project are on display. Since 1975 the facility has been open for tours.
BORAX
Argonne National Laboratory, before it was part of INL, conducted five Boiling Reactor Experiments (BORAX I through V) between 1953 and 1964. They were created to study boiling water reactors and were used to research reactor behavior in the event that the cooling water boiled into steam.
BORAX I began operations in 1953 and in 1954 was intentionally destructed to demonstrate its safety in abnormal operating conditions.
BORAX II, built adjacent to BORAX-I, started up in 1954 and modified into BORAX III in 1955.
BORAX III, thus began in 1955, and was shut down in 1956. It shared the same reactor vessel, although differed in fuel design and core configuration. On July 17, 1955 electricity produced from BORAX III lit up Arco, Idaho, marking the first time an entire town's electricity was generated by nuclear energy. BORAX III in turn was modified into BORAX IV.
BORAX IV began operating in 1956 and continued to operate until 1958. It tested new fuel designs, including ceramic fuels.
BORAX V, which started up in 1962 and ran through 1964, shared the same facility as it predecessors but occupied a new reactor vessel and core. It was used to study nuclear heat and demonstrate nuclear super-heat operation.
The BORAX experiments resulted in the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR) in 1956. Because the EBWR used a mostly plutonium core, it aided in research on plutonium recycle operation of water reactors. In 1966 the EBWR generated electricity for Argonne's physical plant. It was closed down the next year. In February 1996, decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) was completed.
WAG 6
Radioactive contamination of the environment from EBR-I and BORAX operations and support activities was cleaned up in 1997.
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