Experimental Breeder Reactor I

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There is also a separate, unrelated facility called Experimental Breeder Reactor II.

Experimental Breeder Reactor Number 1 in Idaho, the first power reactor. The reactor is in the building top right, the two structures lower left are reactors from the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Project

Experimental Breeder Reactor I (EBR-I) is a decommissioned research reactor and U.S. National Historic Landmark located in the desert about 18 miles southeast of Arco, Idaho. At 1:50pm on December 20, 1951 it became the world's first electricity-generating nuclear power plant when it produced sufficient electricity to illuminate four 200-watt light bulbs.^[1]^[2] It subsequently generated sufficient electricity to power its building, and continued to be used for experimental purposes until it was decommissioned in 1964.

[edit] History

Part of the National Reactor Testing Station (now known as INL), EBR-I's construction started in late 1949. The reactor itself was designed by a team led by Walter Zinn at the Argonne National Laboratory. Installation of the reactor at EBR-I took place in early 1951 and the first reaction went critical on August 24, 1951. On December 20 of that year, atomic energy was successfully harvested for the first time. The design purpose of EBR-I was not to produce electricity but instead to validate nuclear physics which suggested that a breeder reactor should be possible. In 1953, experiments revealed the reactor was producing additional fuel during fission, thus confirming the hypothesis. However, on November 29, 1955, the reactor at EBR-I suffered a partial meltdown due to operator error. It was subsequently repaired for further experiments.

The first production of usable nuclear electricity in Idaho National Laboratory occurred in December 20th 1951 when four light bulbs were lit with electricity generated from the EBR-1 reactor.

View of EBR-1, as seen from the car park.

Besides generating the world's first electricity from atomic energy, EBR-I was also the world's first breeder reactor and the first to use plutonium fuel. EBR-I was deactivated in 1964 and replaced with a new reactor, EBR-II. Landmark status for EBR-I was granted by President Lyndon Johnson and Glenn T. Seaborg on August 25, 1966. The site has been open to the public since 1976, however it is only open between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holidays. Also on display at the site are two prototype reactors from the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Project of the 1950s.