Idaho National Laboratory Cultural Resource Management Plan

were brought into action. The reactor shut itself down because of the natural laws of physics, not a set of
human-engineered or human-operated safety procedures. 280
Three weeks after ANL-W's 1986 tests, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
in the Soviet Union. The alarming accident released substantial radiation into the environment and
reinforced the opponents of nuclear power plants who argued they were not safe. Despite the good news
about IFR and its inherent safety features, ANL was unable to gain sufficient support for the studies that
would allow for scaling up of the concept. President Bill Clinton and the U.S. Congress, responding to
calls for budget reductions, eliminated all funding for nuclear reactor research in 1994. In that year,
EBR-II was shut down after thirty years of operation. 281
The EBR-II reactor is in the process of dismantlement. Its fuel was removed and its liquid sodium
coolant has been drained from the reactor vessel. In 2000, ANL-W began treating EBR-II sodium-bonded
spent fuel. The electrometallurgical process is expected to have applications for the treatment of the Fermi
reactor fuel currently in storage at INL. Elsewhere on the ANL-W site, soils contaminated with Cesium-
137 have been subject to experimental phyto-remediation efforts, in which specific plants take up the
cesium in their root systems. 282
Sub-Theme: Reactor Testing, Experimentation, and Development
Test Reactor Area
TRA Retrenches: 1971-Present. The AEC's focus on the LMFBR affected operations at TRA (now
RTC). ETR was designated as a key test vehicle for the breeder's safety program. In the spring of 1973,
the Aerojet Nuclear Corporation, the RTC operating contractor at the time, began developing special
sodium-cooled test loops for the breeder project. This conversion of the ETR reactor required a new
closure to the top of the reactor vessel, a special helium coolant system, and a sodium handling system.
Once the reactor was properly equipped, ANL would begin testing in mid-1974. The object of the tests
would be to verify safety characteristics of the fuel and core design of the Clinch River breeder reactor. 283
However, Clinch River became a very uncertain project even before Congress refused in 1983 to fund
it further. DOE shut down ETR in December 1981. It never ran again and was placed on inactive standby
in January 1982.
When the Cold War ended in 1990, the Navy's demands on the ATR declined. National motivation to
keep the frontier of nuclear knowledge moving ahead weakened.
The operation of test reactors at TRA had not ended, however. The ATR and its critical facility
reactor continued to serve research needs originating both on and off the site. In 1985, for example, the
critical facility tested electronic components needed for decontamination work around the site. For offsite
customers, the ATR has been a source of neutrons for measuring thermal cross sections of geological
samples in uranium and oil exploration. 284 The U.S. Navy continues as a major ATR customer. In 1996,
the isotope production mission was commercialized. The ATR continues to produce isotopes used by
medical, industrial, and agricultural customers. 285
280. Stacy, Proving the Principle, p. 234-237.
281. “Argonne Proposes `Proliferation-resistant' breeder,” Physics Today (August 1984), p. 62; Holl, p. 450-456; Brandon
Loomis, “End of an Era at Argonne, EBR-II Reactor Ends 30-year Run,” (Idaho Falls) Post Register, Sept. 29, 2994, p. 1.
282. From a November 24, 2003, review of website http://www.inel. gov/facilities/anl-w-status.shtml.
283. Thumbnail Sketch 1973, p. 9
284. Site Development Plan, Volume 2, TRA.
285. “ATR Celebrates 30 years of testing,” Lockheed Star (July 1, 1997), p. 1.
268