1954- Borax 1 - 5 Reactors Melted Down And Blown Up, 100% On Purpose

Video of Borax I nuclear reactor blowing up, reactor plates melting and the release of massive amounts of radiation into the air.



 http://youtu.be/8WfNzJVxVz4?t=13m35s

Another source in case the one above is deleted.. it seems to happen a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WfNzJVxVz4

The intense radiation fogged the film and caused the electronics in the cameras to stop working before the explosion could even finish. 

According to Wikipedia; "BORAX-I was a test reactor designed to explore criticality excursions and observe if a reactor would self limit. In the final test, it was deliberately destroyed (melted down) and revealed that the reactor reached much higher temperatures than were predicted at the time.[25]

The BORAX Experiments were destructive testing of boiling water reactors conducted by Argonne National Laboratory in the 1950s and 1960s at the National Reactor Testing Station in eastern Idaho.[1] They were performed using the five BORAX reactors that were designed and built by Argonne.[2]

Evolution of BORAX

This series of tests began with the BORAX-I nuclear reactor, which proved 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 water to steam would safely control 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." However, this core meltdown and release of nuclear fuel and fission products provided additional useful data to improve mathematical models. 

BORAX-I Destructive Test and Cleanup

Test synopsis: "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 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."[3]

The destruction of BORAX-I caused the "aerial distribution of contaminants resulting from the final experiment of the BORAX-I reactor" and contamination of the topmost 1 foot of soil over about 2 acres in the vicinity.[4] The site needed to be cleaned up prior to being used for subsequent experiments. (This ignores the airborne radioactive gases and hot particles that came out of this reactor and traveled downwind, in the same manner that a nuclear bomb would have.)

The 84,000-square foot (7,800 m2) area was covered with 6 inches of gravel in 1954, but grass, sagebrush, and other plants reseeded the area since then. The BORAX-I burial ground is located about 2,730 feet (832 m) northwest of the Experimental Breeder Reactor-1, a publicly accessible national monument. 

Since 1987, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has classified the burial ground as Superfund site Operable Unit 6-01, one of two such sites (along with SL-1) at the Idaho National Laboratory. 

In 1995, the EPA ordered the primary remedy of the burial ground should be: "Containment by capping with an engineered barrier constructed primarily of native materials."[4] 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 decrease after that time. .[4] (Of course, like all computer models, garbage in and you get garbage out, as is the case with just about all of these computer calculations)

(Note; Are there any signs at this Superfund toxic waste site, where the public is visiting? Are there any warnings to not drill, dig or disturb the soil? What happens when rabbits and gophers dig up the soil and bring the stuff under the rocks to the surface, where it can blow around in the wind? )

External links

BORAX-I reactor description at Argonne National Laboratory site.

BORAX-II reactor description at Argonne National Laboratory web site.

Built in 1954, the BORAX-II reactor proved the principles of pressurized water reactors, with a design output of 6 MW(t).

BORAX-II, modified into BORAX-III with the addition of a turbine, proved that turbine contamination would not be a problem. It was linked to the local power grid and for about an hour on July 17, 1955, it provided 2,000 kW to power nearby Arco, Idaho (500 kW), the BORAX test facility (500 kW), and partially powered the National Reactor Testing Station (after 2004, the Idaho National Laboratory) (1,000 kW). Thus Arco became the first city solely powered by nuclear energy. The reactor continued to be used for tests until 1956.

The BORAX-II reactor while in operation. The reactor was not equipped with a turbine generator, so it could not produce electricity. It vented the energy it produced in the form of steam. 

(Notice the huge black cloud of heavy particles going straight up and out of the reactor, as the lighter steam blows off to one side... radioactive materials venting out of the 'pile', which is not shielded at all.. So every time they fire these reactors up, they are venting toxic, heavy metal and radioactive materials up into the air and it goes downwind. And according to the original description above, all Borax reactors, above and below, were melted down or destroyed on purpose, releasing even more radioactive materials into the air. The white spots on the picture are due to radiation hitting the camera film, exposing it and lightening it.) 

BORAX-III reactor description at Argonne National Laboratory web site.

Coordinates: 43.51798°N 113.00946°W

BORAX III steam turbine and generator

BORAX-IV reactor description at Argonne National Laboratory web site.

BORAX-IV, built in 1956, explored the thorium fuel cycle and uranium-233 fuel with a power of 20 MW thermal. This experiment utilized fuel plates that were purposely full of defects in order to explore long-term plant operation with damaged fuel plates. Radioactive gasses were released into the atmosphere.

BORAX-V reactor description at Argonne National Laboratory web site.

BORAX-V continued the work on boiling water reactor designs, including the use of a superheater. It operated from 1962 to 1964.

Summaries of BORAX experiments in Appendix B of Idaho National Laboratory's history Proving the Principle."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BORAX-I

In summary, according to the initial introduction, the entire Borax series of nuclear reactors were designed and deployed in order to be destroyed on purpose via a meltdown/explosion scenario. The Borax 1 nuclear reactor meltdown is documented here, and the rest of the melt downs are only suggested, but with no documentation.

The pro nuclear apologists like to claim that only 3 nuclear reactors have melted down since the beginning of the atomic age, but the total number of meltdowns is actually staggering... click on the link to see them all..

Nuclear Accidents, Recycling Nuclear Weapons/Fuel
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/p/nuclear-accidents-around-world.html

Remember that each melt down of a reactor results in a massive release of air borne radioactive gases, hot particles and radiation, which then floats downwind for thousands of miles, exposing everyone to disease and cancer causing radiation. Even up to today however, the pro nuclear apologists like to claim that no one dies and no one will ever die as a result of any nuclear accident. This is much like claiming that after the Titanic sunk, no one died as a result of the ship sinking. Just because people drown afterwards, that is just coincidence. 

End

1954- Borax 1 - 5  Reactors Melted Down And Blown Up, 100% On Purpose; via @AGreenRoad
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/03/1954-borax-1-5-reactors-melted-down-100.html