National Reactor Testing Station Idaho

The SL-1 (Stationary Low Power No. 1) was a 3-MW (thermal) boiling water reactor operated by military personnel at the National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho. As a result of interference with the control rods, there was an explosion on 3 January 1961 in which about 5 tonne of coolant were expelled from the pressure vessel (Horan Gammil, 1963). 

Islitzer, N.F. (1962) The role of meteorology following the nuclear accident in south east Idaho. Report IDO 19310. National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho Falls, Idaho. 

Waste Disposal on the Geochemistry of Water at the National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho, 1952-1970, USAEC Report IDO-22053, Feb 1974. 

A series of tests were performed at the AFC s National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho, starting in 1953. The reactor was situated outdoors, and was operated remotely. The core of the first version had fuel assembhes of aluminum and enriched uranium plates of the Materials Testing Reactor (MTR) type, installed in a water tank. One of the five control rods could be ejected downward and out of the core by spring action upon intermption of a magnet... 

The first experimental breeder reactor (EBR-1), which was the first reactor to generate electricity on a practical basis, went into operation in 1951 at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. After the first reactor was damaged by a power excursion, EBR-11 was put into operation in 1961 (57). As of early 1995 it continued to operate very well. 

Bunch, D.F. (1968) Controlled environmental radioiodine tests at the National Reactor Testing Station. Report IDO 12063. Idaho Falls, Idaho NRTS. 

Allied Chemical Corp., Idaho Chemical Programs—Operations Office, National Reactor Testing Station, 550 Second St., Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401... 

The Zero Power Plutonium Reactor (ZPPR) Is a split-table-type experimental reactor operated by Argonne National Laboratory at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. 

During 1947 a design of the process—water system was conceived and developed for construction of the MTF at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In the middle of 1949 the U. S. Navy Proving Ground in the Snake River Plains of Idaho was chosen as the Reactor Testing Station. With these fundamental data available, the design was redeveloped to suit the Idaho locality. 

Soils may become contaminated from fallout associated with nuclear weapons tests, such as those conducted at the Trinity Site in southern New Mexico, the Pacific Proving Ground at the Enewetak Atoll, and the Nevada Test Site or with accidental, non-nuclear detonation of nuclear weapons, such as occurred at Palomares, Spain. Research facilities, such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, may release treated radioactive wastes under controlled conditions. Production facilities, such as the Hanford and Savannah River Plants and experimental reactor stations, for example, the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho, also released treated plutonium-bearing radioactive wastes under controlled conditions to soils (Hanson 1975). 

---