Arco/BORAX Mobile Substation [13]

Scan of a photo of "This turbine and generator, operating on heat from the Experimental Breeder Reactor, produced the first known useful electricity from atomic energy on December 20, 1951 at the Atomic Energy Commission's National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. The reactor also was the source of electricity used December 21 for lighting and for operating a machine shop. The reactor and its small power plant were designed and operated by the Commission's Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. The generator of the conventional power plant is in the foreground, a gear box next, and a turbine at the right. The turbine operates on steam heated by the liquid metal coolant of the reactor. In a trial run electric power was generated at the rate of 100 kilowatts and was used to operate pumps and other reactor equipment and to provide light and electrical facilities for the building that houses the reactor. The main purpose of the Experimental Breeder Reactor is to provide data on the possibility of creating new nuclear fuel by breeding. Though incidental and uneconomic, the power generation will provide information useful in ultimate practical application of atomic energy for power purposes."