191:. In 1995, the EPA ordered the primary remedy of the burial ground to be: "Containment by capping with an engineered barrier constructed primarily of native materials." The site is expected to produce no more than a 2 in 10,000 increase in cancer risk for long-term residential use after 320 years, with no significant increase after that time. This risk calculation ignores the shielding provided by the soil cover, which at the time of the EPA decision had reduced exposure to little more than background level, and makes very pessimistic modeling assumptions that greatly increase the projected risk, to deliberately focus on the high rather than low effect side.
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The destruction of BORAX-I caused the "aerial distribution of contaminants resulting from the final experiment of the BORAX-I reactor" and the likely contamination of the topmost 1 foot of soil over about 2 acres in the vicinity. The site required cleanup before it could be used for subsequent
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The (test was) carried out by withdrawing four of the five control rods far enough to make the reactor critical at a very low power level. The fifth rod was then fired from the core by means of a spring. In this test, the rod was ejected in approximately 0.2 seconds. After the control rod was
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experiments. The 84,000-square foot (7,800 m) area was covered with 6 inches of gravel in 1954, but grass, sagebrush, and other plants reseeded the area since then. Debris from BORAX-I is buried about 2,730 feet (830 m) northwest of the
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BORAX-III added a turbine to the BORAX-II design, proving that turbine contamination would not be a problem. It was linked to the local power grid for about an hour on July 17, 1955. BORAX-III provided 2,000 kW to power nearby
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the reaction. The final, deliberately destructive test in 1954 produced an unexpectedly large power excursion that "instead of the melting of a few fuel plates, the test melted a major fraction of the entire core." Data from this
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fuel with a power of 20 MW thermal. This experiment used fuel plates that were purposely full of defects to explore long-term plant operation with damaged fuel plates. Radioactive gases were released into the atmosphere.
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ejected, an explosion took place in the reactor which carried away the control mechanism and blew out the core. At half a mile, the radiation level rose to 25 mr/hr. Personnel were evacuated for about 30 minutes.
62:. They were performed using the five BORAX reactors that were designed and built by Argonne. BORAX-III was the first nuclear reactor to supply electrical power to the
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The BORAX-II reactor was built in 1954, with a design output of 6 MW(t). In March 1955, BORAX-II was intentionally destroyed by taking the reactor "prompt critical".
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plant, which began operations nearby in 1958. The principles discovered in the BORAX-I experiments helped scientists understand the fatal meltdown at SL-1 in 1961.
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134:) (1,000 kW). Thus, Arco became the first community solely powered by nuclear energy. The reactor continued to be used for tests until 1956.
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of the design of modern nuclear power reactors. Design power of BORAX-I was 1.4 megawatts thermal. The BORAX-I design was a precursor to the
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ANL-175 – Nuclear
Reactors Built, Being Built, or Planned in the United States as of June 30, 1970 TID-8200 (22nd Rev.)
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BORAX-V continued the work on boiling water reactor designs, including the use of a
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BORAX was a contraction of the words “boiling water reactor experiment".
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This series of tests began in 1952 with the construction of the BORAX-I
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Operable Unit 6-01, one of two such sites (along with
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United States Atomic Energy
Commission (August 12, 1955).
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Series of boiling water nuclear reactor safety experiments
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helped improve mathematical models. The tests proved key
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would be practical, rather than unstable, because of the
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78:. BORAX-I experiment proved that a reactor using direct
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in
Appendix B of Idaho National Laboratory's history
358:. IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY (USDOE). 1996
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AEC Press release for BORAX-III lighting Arco, Idaho.
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Borax – Safety experiment on a boiling water reactor
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description at
Argonne National Laboratory web site.
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description at
Argonne National Laboratory web site.
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description at
Argonne National Laboratory web site.
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description at
Argonne National Laboratory web site.
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in the core. Subsequently, the reactor was used for
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244:USAEC Division of Technical Information (1970).
177:United States Environmental Protection Agency
19:"BORAX" redirects here. For the mineral, see
232:Light Water Reactor Technology Development
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511:Nuclear technology in the United States
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137:BORAX-IV, built in 1956, explored the
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153:. It operated from 1962 to 1964.
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56:National Reactor Testing Station
446:Summaries of BORAX experiments
388:. Argonne National Laboratory.
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207:Experimental Breeder Reactor I
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132:Idaho National Laboratory
109:nuclear fission products
90:tests which showed that
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322:"Criticality Accidents"
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451:Proving the Principle
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328:on 27 February 2014
139:thorium fuel cycle
70:Evolution of BORAX
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428:BORAX-III reactor
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113:safety principles
44:BORAX Experiments
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475:43°31′05″N
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305:11 October
214:References
251:(Report).
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195:See also
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386:(PDF)
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219:Notes
60:Idaho
21:borax
364:2014
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201:SL-1
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