BORAX experiments

The BORAX Experiments, boiling reactor experiments, were a series of tests using the BORAX-I nuclear reactor which proved Samuel Untermyer's 1952 theory that a reactor using direct boiling of water would be practical, rather than unstable because of the bubble formation in the core. Subsequently the reactor was used for power excursion tests which showed that rapid conversion of steam to water would safely control the reaction. The final, deliberately destructive, test produced an unexpectedly large power excursion and provided additional useful data to improve mathematical models. The tests proved key safety principles of the design of modern nuclear power reactors. Design power of BORAX-I was 1.4 megawatts thermal.

Subsequently the BORAX-II reactor proved the principles of pressurised water reactors, with a design output of 6MW(t).

Finally, BORAX-II was modified with the addition of a turbine, proved that turbine contamination would not be a problem and went on to be the first nuclear power plant to power a city, providing Arco, Idaho with 200kW of electical power for two hours on 17 July, 1955. The reactor continued to be used for tests until 1956.

See also

• SL-1, the only demonstration of the BORAX-I principles during a real nuclear accident

External links

• BORAX-I reactor description at Argonne National Laboratory site.
• BORAX-II reactor description at Argonne National laboratory
• BORAX-III reactor description at Argonne National laboratory