On Dec. 20, 1951, a nuclear reactor produced useful electricity for the first time.
It was barely enough to power a simple string of four, 100-watt light bulbs, but the 16 scientists and engineers - all staff members of Argonne National Laboratory, which designed and built the reactor - recorded their historic achievement by chalking their names on the wall beside the generator.
The reactor was Experimental Breeder Reactor-I (EBR-I), housed in a small building that today still sits alone on a wind-swept plain in southeastern Idaho. EBR-I spawned a huge international industry that now plays a major role in meeting the world's energy needs.
Today, more than 100 nuclear power plants provide 20 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States. More than 435 reactors provide some 17 percent of the world's electricity, and about 65 more plants are under construction around the world.
During its 15-year career, EBR-1 was the site of many historical firsts, and retired Argonne scientist Kirby Whitham was an integral part of several of them.
On that raw December day in 1951, scientists and technicians readied for the first test of the power-generating system. "We got the reactor critical, which was a rather slow process," Whitham said. "Generating steam for the first time was a problem, because we hadn't done it before. Technicians were running everywhere, measuring temperatures and so on.
"It took quite a while to get the turbine up to speed, then we had to load the generator. The generator put out 440 volts, so we used four light bulbs wired in series." ...
EBR-I's primary experimental mission was to develop and test the concept of the breeder reactor -- a vision pursued by Enrico Fermi and his colleague, Walter Zinn, ...More...
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