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Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

tweaktown.com

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Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#11
post #5

The only really interesting thing about this is the claim that it was weapons grade uranium. I wonder if they mean the same thing other people do when they say that (for me, 90+% U-235), or if the mention of californium means it was blended?

as you can read from what I think is the original source (http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120511/NEWS01/...) californium was the neutron source and uranium was used in the multiplier.

«A steady stream of neutrons is needed for these purposes. Kodak used small research reactors, including one at Cornell University, and possessed a dollop of californium-252, a radioactive isotope that endlessly sheds neutrons.

But it wanted a more potent in-house system, so in 1974 it acquired a californium neutron flux multiplier, known as a CFX. Small plates of highly enriched uranium multiplied the neutron flow from a tiny californium core.»

Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#13
post #5

The only really interesting thing about this is the claim that it was weapons grade uranium. I wonder if they mean the same thing other people do when they say that (for me, 90+% U-235), or if the mention of californium means it was blended?

Weapons grade HEU is typically 80% or above, though strictly speaking anything above about 20% is pretty easy to make a nuke out of provided you have enough material.

Also, back in the day it was quite normal for such small research reactors to use HEU (specifically, about 93% enrichment), and such reactors were pretty commonplace at the time. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_reactor

Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#14
Kodak would have had huge hooks into the national security side of things in the US government.

They made all kinds of films used for imaging various parts of the spectrum, and would have had their researchers available for the USG (surely at a price of course). That they had fissionable material is entirely reasonable and expected.

Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#15
Having grown up in Rochester with many friends and family who were Kodak employees, I thought I'd ask around. My father, a software developer at Kodak who wouldn't have had any particular reason to deal with the reactor, says he was well aware of it and that it wasn't any big secret.

Given that they filed plenty of public paperwork and notified all the relavent authorities, I'm inclined to agree.

Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#16
post #12

When I was a student at the University of Arizona '86-90 there was a reactor on campus. http://reactor.arl.arizona.edu/facilities-mainmenu-32/25-nuc... It was just decommissioned: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/college/it-s-offic...

NCSU has a currently-operating PULSTAR reactor on campus. I walk by the building multiple times per day when classes are in session. http://www.ne.ncsu.edu/nrp/index.html

One of these days, I need to see if I can get inside and take a look around.

Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#17
Small research reactors are not uncommon at large companies and universities. Even Reed college has one, which I visited last year when I was traveling through Portland. "Tested" recently visited it too

http://www.tested.com/videos/44278-will-and-norm-visit-the-r...

Such reactors were typically fueled with HEU (Reed exchanged their HEU fuel for LEU only a few years ago).

And no reactor is secret -- all civilian reactors in the United States are registered with the NRC and you can look them up on the NRC website (and wikipedia).

Gizmodo may have degraded the story, but the original source (local paper) wasn't much better. I'm afraid it's just another hack story about fission by a hack journalist who couldn't be bothered to do the most basic web search on what he was reporting.

Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#18
post #8

The article ends with the news source they got the story from: http://www.techspot.com/news/48601-kodak-maintained-an-under... The source is much cleaner than the submitted site. After reading both articles I feel that the submission is just a rip-off. Edit: I didn't go deep enough down the rabbit hole. Thanks eli & falling.

No, actually that links to the poorly written gizmodo story. Itself a knockoff of the local paper, http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120511/NEWS01/... Pretty sure that is both the original source and the most accurate write up.

I am being presented with a paywall.

Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#19
post #17

Small research reactors are not uncommon at large companies and universities. Even Reed college has one, which I visited last year when I was traveling through Portland. "Tested" recently visited it too http://www.tested.com/videos/44278-will-and-norm-visit-the-r... Such reactors were typically fueled with HEU (Reed exchanged their HEU fuel for LEU only a few years ago). And no reactor is secret -- all civilian react…

This isn't technically a nuclear reactor (not critical), so it doesn't appear on any of the usual lists like [1] or [2] (prior to edits made after this story came out). It isn't mentioned on any major NRC page, although they host some of its paperwork [3].

[1] http://nucleus.iaea.org/RRDB/RR/ReactorSearch.aspx

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_nuclear_r...

[3] https://www.google.com/?hl=en#q=kodak+site:nrc.gov+-filetype...

Re: Kodak kept a secret nuclear reactor underground for over 30 years

#20
post #18
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, actually that links to the poorly written gizmodo story. Itself a knockoff of the local paper, http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120511/NEWS01/... Pretty sure that is both the original source and the most accurate write up.

I am being presented with a paywall.

Try this one (no URL junk):

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120511/NEWS01/...

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