Idaho's Atomic History and the SL-1 Nuclear Accident | History Vlog |

[@norahc.]

Sent me down flashback lane...ddid my navy nuclear prototype training at INEL at the S1W prototype. Went by EBR-1 and SL-1 sites everyday

[@commandertone809]

The world's first nuclear power plant was Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, in the Soviet union which started providing power in 1954. Sl1 on the other hand was a test reactor which started construction in 1957 and started generating power Oct 24 of 1958

[@historysavvy]

Thanks for the comment. There's an important distinction to be made here. Obninsk is the first grid-connected power plant but this is the first power plant which first generated electrical power in 1951. Just because this reactor was not connected to a power grid does not disqualify it from being the world's first power plant. You may have missed it, but the video does state the SL-1 was a test reactor for the US Army.

[@commandertone809]

@@historysavvy The prototype was constructed at the National Reactor Testing Station west of Idaho Falls from July 1957 to July 1958. From the wiki

[@commandertone809]

@@historysavvy can you provide links to where you found this information?

[@commandertone809]

@@historysavvy I see the what we are missing ebr-1 not sl-1