#ebr-1

[man-and-atom]

Although it generated power, the first nuclear reactor to do so, Experimental Breeder Reactor Number One was above all an experiment. We see here, not only the creation of a new core design to test a scientific hypothesis, but also a great amount of painstaking handwork, which would be totally uneconomical for real-world power production. Unsurprisingly, a major focus of Experimental Breeder Reactor Number Two was on simplifications which would reduce the fuel cycle cost!

[princemannikin]

“Nuclear Reactors, I just think they’re neat.”

[man-and-atom]

More painstaking handwork, suitable more to a scientific experiment than an industrial facility, but the method of fabricating the fuel pins by casting into glass moulds is a clear antecedent of the technique adopted in the EBR-II fuel cycle facility.

Note the description of plutonium as being far more toxic than the usual industrial poisons ― which one often hears repeated, even exaggerated into “the most toxic substance known to man”. (Microgram for microgram, aflatoxin and botulinum toxin, for instance, are far deadlier.) We may guess that this statement partly reflects the state of toxicology at the time, and partly the fact that plutonium, being radioactive, is far easier to trace in invisibly small quantities. Substances which are not so labelled may take many years to identify by conventional chemical methods.

[man-and-atom]

For generations now, “nuclear meltdown” has been synonymous with the worst conceivable kind of industrial accident. In fact, however, there have been a number of instances in which some of the fuel in the core of a nuclear reactor has melted, and the reactor has subsequently been cleaned up, repaired, and returned to service.

The reactors involved have been as different as sodium-cooled fast breeders using highly enriched fuel, and gas-cooled graphite-moderated reactors fueled with natural uranium. Despite the ludicrous alarmism of a book entitled We Almost Lost Detroit, and continuing debate over possible off-site consequences of the Sodium Reactor Experiment accident at the Santa Susanna proving ground near Los Angeles, it really appears as though the public was never harmed or even endangered by these mishaps.

[man-and-atom]

The flyer we passed out at the recent World Science Fiction Convention. The light bulb is original work, but the atom symbol in it is adapted from the Nuclear Power? Yes Please! logo.

PDF here (US Letter size).

[man-and-atom]

Nuke power advocate films music video at EBR-1

ATOMIC CITY — For a few hours Thursday evening, the Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 returned to Dec. 20, 1951.

The antinuclearites use all kinds of kooky publicity stunts.  So why shouldn’t we?

“I wanted to devote my life to solving the world’s challenges with nuclear power.”  Meyer was a “theater kid” when he was in school, and realized after he took a few voice lessons in college that he could do it professionally.

And maybe that’s what the world needs right now.  Not all it needs, to be sure, but an important piece of the puzzle.

[journeywise]

The Wonderful State of…Idaho

The Wonderful State of…Idaho

Uh oh, this is going to be a long one!  Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy!

There’s a long narrow strip of western Idaho that’s lush, gorgeous, and green, all the way from Boise in the south to tiny Bonner’s Ferry up in the panhandle near Canada…and after 4000+ miles, it’s along that route that we found a few places to add to an “our spot” list.  Let’s start with Boise!

But, wait…long before…

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[nuclearvault]

The first light bulbs lit by electricity generated by nuclear power.

20 December 1951 Argonne National Lab