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33-580: Experimental Breeder Reactor I ( EBR-I ) is a decommissioned research reactor and U.S. National Historic Landmark located in the desert about 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Arco, Idaho . It was the world's first breeder reactor . At 1:50 p.m. on December 20, 1951, it became one of the world's first electricity-generating nuclear power plants when it produced sufficient electricity to illuminate four 200-watt light bulbs . EBR-I subsequently generated sufficient electricity to power its building, and continued to be used for experimental purposes until it

66-409: A moderator is required to slow the neutron velocities and enhance fission. As neutron production is their main function, most research reactors benefit from reflectors to reduce neutron loss from the core. The International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy initiated a program in 1978 to develop the means to convert research reactors from using highly enriched uranium (HEU) to

99-461: A "Site-Wide Long-Term Management and Control Program". The use of the site will be industrial in nature for a 100-year period and likely in the indefinite future thereafter. The objective of the EBR-II was to demonstrate the operation of a sodium-cooled fast reactor power plant with on-site reprocessing of metallic fuel. In order to meet this objective of on-site reprocessing, the EBR-II was part of

132-603: A few companies that concentrate the key projects on a worldwide basis. The most recent international tender (1999) for a research reactor was that organized by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation for the design, construction and commissioning of the Open-pool Australian lightwater reactor (OPAL). Four companies were prequalified: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), INVAP , Siemens and Technicatom . The project

165-445: A fluid which readily conducts heat from the fuel to the coolant, and which operates at relatively low temperatures, the EBR-II takes maximum advantage of expansion of the coolant, fuel, and structure during off-normal events which increase temperatures. The expansion of the fuel and structure in an off-normal situation causes the system to shut down even without human operator intervention. In April 1986, two special tests were performed on

198-530: A majority of the electricity and also heat to the facilities of the Argonne National Laboratory-West. The fuel consists of uranium rods 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter and 33 cm (13 in) long. Enriched to 67% uranium-235 when fresh, the concentration dropped to approximately 65% upon removal. The rods also contained 10% zirconium . Each fuel element is placed inside a thin-walled stainless steel tube along with

231-405: A radiological and industrially safe condition". Between 2012 and 2015, some components of the below-ground reactor were removed. The cost for removal actions in the reactor building were about $ 25.7 million. The basement with the reactor was filled with grout. The three-year decontamination and entombment project cost $ 730 million. In a later stage, the large concrete dome that surrounds

264-467: A small amount of sodium metal. The tube is welded shut at the top to form a unit 73 cm (29 in) long. The purpose of the sodium is to function as a heat-transfer agent. As more and more of the uranium undergoes fission, it develops fissures and the sodium enters the voids. It extracts an important fission product, caesium -137, and hence becomes intensely radioactive . The void above the uranium collects fission gases, mainly krypton -85. Clusters of

297-453: A variety of metallic and ceramic fuels—the oxides , carbides , or nitrides of uranium and plutonium , and metallic fuel alloys such as uranium-plutonium-zirconium fuel. Other sub-assembly positions may contain structural-material experiments. The pool-type reactor design of the EBR-II provides passive safety : the reactor core, its fuel handling equipment, and many other systems of the reactor are submerged under molten sodium. By providing

330-504: Is pumped to the boiler, where it gives up its heat to water, generating steam. This steam passes to the turbine, which is how electricity is produced. This steam then condenses and returned to the boiler by a water pump. EBR-I was deactivated by Argonne in 1964 and replaced with a new reactor, Experimental Breeder Reactor II . It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965 with its dedication ceremony held on August 25, 1966, led by President Lyndon Johnson and Glenn T. Seaborg . It

363-409: The EBR-II reactor would be removed and a concrete cap placed over the remaining structure. In 2018, the plans were changed. The removal of the dome was stopped and in 2019, a new floor was poured and the dome got a fresh paint to prepare the building for industrial use. The building will be used for a research facility on top of the entombed reactor. The dome is an integral part of the tomb along with

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396-412: The EBR-II, in which the main primary cooling pumps were shut off with the reactor at full power (62.5 megawatts, thermal). By not allowing the normal shutdown systems to interfere, the reactor power dropped to near zero within about 300 seconds. No damage to the fuel or the reactor resulted. The same day, this demonstration was followed by another important test. With the reactor again at full power, flow in

429-534: The Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. Later in 1955, another nuclear milestone was reached when an experimental boiling water reactor plant called BORAX -III (also designed, built, and operated by Argonne National Laboratory) was connected to external loads, powering the nearby city of Arco, Idaho , the first time a city had been powered solely by nuclear power. The design purpose of EBR-I

462-414: The cause of unexpected reactor responses to changes in coolant flow. It was subsequently repaired for further experiments, which determined that thermal expansion of the fuel rods and the thick plates supporting the fuel rods was the cause of the unexpected reactor response. Besides being one of the world's first to generate electricity from atomic energy, EBR-I was also the world's first breeder reactor and

495-579: The deactivated components and structure in a safe condition. The reactor was shut down in September 1994. The initial phase of decommissioning activities, reactor de-fueling, was completed in December 1996. From 2000, the coolants were removed and processed. This was completed in March 2001. The third and final phase of the decommissioning activity was "the placement of the reactor and non-reactor systems in

528-416: The design and operation of EBR-II was to demonstrate a complete breeder-reactor power plant with on-site reprocessing of solid metallic fuel. Fuel elements enriched to about 67% uranium-235 were sealed in stainless steel tubes and removed when they reached about 65% enrichment. The tubes were unsealed and reprocessed to remove neutron poisons , mixed with fresh U-235 to increase enrichment, and placed back in

561-497: The earliest. In part this is because the development of reliable LEU fuel for high neutron flux research reactors, that does not fail through swelling, has been slower than expected. As of 2020 , 72 HEU research reactors remain. While in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s there were a number of companies that specialized in the design and construction of research reactors, the activity of this market cooled down afterwards, and many companies withdrew. The market has consolidated today into

594-465: The first to use plutonium fuel to generate electricity (see also the Clementine nuclear reactor). EBR-I's initial purpose was to prove Enrico Fermi's fuel breeding principle, a principle that a nuclear reactor can produce more fuel atoms than it consumes. EBR-I proved this principle. EBR-I used uranium metal fuel and NaK primary coolant. It was in this identical to the initial configuration of

627-469: The fuel is used. On the other hand, their fuel requires more highly enriched uranium , typically up to 20% U-235 , although some use 93% U-235; while 20% enrichment is not generally considered usable in nuclear weapons, 93% is commonly referred to as " weapons-grade ". They also have a very high power density in the core, which requires special design features. Like power reactors, the core needs cooling, typically natural or forced convection with water, and

660-416: The later Dounreay Fast Reactor which first went critical in 1959. The primary liquid metal coolant flows by gravity from the supply tank through the reactor core, where it absorbs heat. Then, the coolant flows to heat the exchanger, where it gives up this heat to the secondary coolant, another liquid metal. The primary coolant is returned to the supply tank by an electromagnetic pump. The secondary coolant

693-421: The pins inside hexagonal stainless steel jackets 234 cm (92 in) long are assembled honeycomb-like; each unit has about 4.5 kg (9.9 lb) of uranium. Altogether, the core contains about 308 kg (679 lb) of uranium fuel, and this part is called the driver. The EBR-II core can accommodate as many as 65 experimental sub-assemblies for irradiation and operational reliability tests, fueled with

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726-537: The primary cooling system is lost. EBR-II is now defueled. The EBR-II shutdown activity also includes the treatment of its discharged spent fuel using an electrometallurgical fuel treatment process in the Fuel Conditioning Facility located next to the EBR-II. The clean-up process for EBR-II includes the removal and processing of the sodium coolant, cleaning of the EBR-II sodium systems, removal and passivating of other chemical hazards and placing

759-518: The reactor plant was referred to as Chicago Pile 4 (CP-4) and Zinn's Infernal Pile. Installation of the reactor at EBR-I took place in early 1951 (the first reactor in Idaho) and it began power operation on August 24, 1951. On December 20 of that year, EBR-I produced electricity for its first time. The following day, the reactor produced enough power to light the whole building. The EBR-I produced 200 kW of electricity out of 1.4 MW of heat generated by

792-591: The reactor. Testing of the original breeder cycle ran until 1969, after which time the reactor was used to test concepts for the Integral Fast Reactor concept. In this role, the high-energy neutron environment of the EBR-II core was used for testing fuels and materials for future, larger, liquid metal reactors. As part of these experiments, in 1986 EBR-II underwent an experimental shutdown simulating complete cooling pump failure. It demonstrated its ability to self-cool its fuel through natural convection of

825-471: The reactor. The production of electricity at EBR-I is the first time that a reactor created in-house available electricity, and it is sometimes misreferred to as the first time that a nuclear reactor has ever created electricity. However, the world's first electricity produced by a nuclear reactor occurred during an experiment 3 years earlier in September 1948 at the X-10 Graphite Reactor at

858-402: The secondary cooling system was stopped. This test caused the temperature to increase, since there was nowhere for the reactor heat to go. As the primary (reactor) cooling system became hotter, the fuel, sodium coolant, and structure expanded, and the reactor shut down. This test showed that it will shut down using inherent features such as thermal expansion, even if the ability to remove heat from

891-565: The sodium coolant during the decay heat period following the shutdown. It was used in the IFR support role, and many other experiments, until it was decommissioned in September 1994. At full power operation, which it reached in September 1969, EBR-II produced about 62.5 megawatts of heat and 20 megawatts of electricity through a conventional three-loop steam turbine system and tertiary forced-air cooling tower . Over its lifetime it has generated over two billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, providing

924-522: The use of low enriched uranium (LEU), in support of its nonproliferation policy. By that time, the U.S. had supplied research reactors and highly enriched uranium to 41 countries as part of its Atoms for Peace program. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Energy extended its Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Acceptance program until 2019. As of 2016, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report concluded converting all research reactors to LEU cannot be completed until 2035 at

957-642: Was a sodium-cooled fast reactor designed, built and operated by Argonne National Laboratory at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. It was shut down in 1994. Custody of the reactor was transferred to Idaho National Laboratory after its founding in 2005. Initial operations began in July 1964 and it achieved criticality in 1965 at a total cost of more than US$ 32 million ($ 309 million in 2023 dollars). The original emphasis in

990-664: Was also declared an IEEE Milestone in 2004. Research reactor The neutrons produced by a research reactor are used for neutron scattering , non-destructive testing, analysis and testing of materials , production of radioisotopes , research and public outreach and education. Research reactors that produce radioisotopes for medical or industrial use are sometimes called isotope reactors . Reactors that are optimised for beamline experiments nowadays compete with spallation sources . Research reactors are simpler than power reactors and operate at lower temperatures. They need far less fuel, and far less fission products build up as

1023-573: Was awarded to INVAP that built the reactor. In recent years, AECL withdrew from this market, and Siemens and Technicatom activities were merged into Areva . A complete list can be found at the List of nuclear research reactors . Research centers that operate a reactor: Decommissioned research reactors: Experimental Breeder Reactor II 43°35′42″N 112°39′26″W  /  43.595039°N 112.657156°W  / 43.595039; -112.657156 Experimental Breeder Reactor-II ( EBR-II )

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1056-574: Was decommissioned in 1964. The museum is open for visitors from late May until early September. As part of the National Reactor Testing Station (since 2005 Idaho National Laboratory ), EBR-I's construction started in late 1949. The reactor was designed and constructed by a team led by Walter Zinn at the Argonne National Laboratory Idaho site, known as Argonne-West. In its early stages,

1089-400: Was not to produce electricity but instead to validate nuclear physics theory that suggested that a breeder reactor should be possible. In 1953, experiments revealed the reactor was producing additional fuel during fission , thus confirming the hypothesis. On November 29, 1955, the reactor at EBR-I suffered a partial meltdown during a coolant flow test. The flow test was trying to determine

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