Introduction to EBR-I as of 2019
Nuclear Pioneers EBR-I
On June 29, 1997 I visited Arco, ID which was the first town to receive ALL of its electricity from nuclear power in 1955. The pundits predicted great economic growth and it was all in the papers.
The town is still a farm town of about 1000. So much for pundits.
Nearby is the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), some 500,000 acres set aside for nuclear studies and wildlife studies.
I visited EBR-1 (Experimental Breeder Reactor 1) which is a National Historic Landmark. It was the first reactor to generate electricity back in 1951.
Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 Sign
Experimental Breeder Reactor-1
Signature panel when first electric produced
EBR-1 Control Room
EBR-1 Control Room
EBR-1 Control Rod Display
EBR-1 Control Rod Display
Fuel rod storage
Reactor core
Reactor container structure
Fuel handler
Breeding blankets
Electric generator
It was a "breeder reactor", creating more fuel than it consumed. This website provides a number of pictures. This brochure (PDF) and this self-guided tour (PDF) provide details.
I got a personal tour from one of two tour guides on duty - a local Idaho boy who had just gotten his degree in Chemistry and was going back in the fall and get an MBA.
He said that two weeks ago, one of the people (G.K. Whilham) who participated in the 1951 first electrical generation came bye and gave the tour guides a tour.
He said it really made the place come alive to them (it happened before they were born). Whilham was age 77.
My "private tour" was due to me being the only person there at the time, although another tour had left just before I got there. Other people showed up later.
It was very interesting even though I already had some limited knowledge of such stuff.
Experimental Nuclear Aircraft Engines, EBR-1
Outside, they also had on display two giant experimental platforms used to work on developing a nuclear powered airplane.
A project that was abandoned about the time an airplane design was laid out but before anything was built.
Read Flying on Nuclear, The American Effort to Built a Nuclear Powered Bomber for information on this program.