Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

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Kodak's Nuclear Reactor
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Author:  Double Negative [ Mon May 14, 2012 3:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

Whoa! :shock:

"It seems the one-time imaging powerhouse held a decades-long secret deep in a bunker below Building 82 on its Rochester campus. The now vacant facility, a concrete-shielded chamber built in 1974, was once home to a californium neutron flux multiplier (CFX) or, in layman's terms, a small nuclear reactor as recently as six years ago."

"...makes you wonder how the company managed to keep a nuclear reactor and a chunk of enriched uranium under wraps from an entire city from 1974 until 2006 when it was dismantled."

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/art ... ar-reactor

http://gizmodo.com/5909961/kodak-had-a- ... a-basement

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/14/unea ... ar-reacto/

Author:  JDLaing [ Mon May 14, 2012 4:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

Kodak has a lot of secrets that are not for public consumption.

Author:  Double Negative [ Mon May 14, 2012 8:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

It's funny, as my father-in-law works for the Democrat and Chronicle. So I hear a lot of the sadness coming from Rochester... Didn't get the tip on this one though.

Author:  Bobitybob [ Wed May 16, 2012 12:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

Good job they kept it under all that concrete otherwise it would have fogged all the film. Perhaps it's what fogged their business thinking :mrgreen:

Author:  Double Negative [ Wed May 16, 2012 1:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

Ha! It might be the only explanation. ;)

Here's another article on it, on CNN.

Author:  James Lehrer [ Wed Nov 11, 2015 4:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

I just read this string. I'm not at all surprised about the stealth reactor in Rochester, given that there was a little-known 100 kilowatt reactor in the basement of Boelter Hall (Physics and Engineering) at UCLA, barely two miles from my house. It was licensed in 1959 and shut down in 1984. It had 5-foot concrete shielding, and was tiny as nuclear reactors go, but it still amazes me that it got so little press. I got my BA at UCLA (class of 1974) and I can't recall any mention, sign or hint of its existence.

Author:  Double Negative [ Wed Nov 11, 2015 4:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

Ha, wow. Amazing. I'm surrounded by reactors where I am... Three Mile Island, another one in Brookhaven. Even more further out. O.o

Author:  JDLaing [ Wed Nov 11, 2015 6:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

James Lehrer wrote:
I just read this string. I'm not at all surprised about the stealth reactor in Rochester, given that there was a little-known 100 kilowatt reactor in the basement of Boelter Hall (Physics and Engineering) at UCLA, barely two miles from my house. It was licensed in 1959 and shut down in 1984. It had 5-foot concrete shielding, and was tiny as nuclear reactors go, but it still amazes me that it got so little press. I got my BA at UCLA (class of 1974) and I can't recall any mention, sign or hint of its existence.



There's more reactors in LA than you think. :geek:

Author:  James Lehrer [ Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

No kidding! They just had a piece on local TV news about a park that's been a children's center for years, on land that supposedly was contaminated by work at the nearby Santa Susana Field Laboratory (near Simi Valley), where Atomics International is reported to have operated 10 low-power reactors. A sodium reactor released radioactive gas to the atmosphere when 13 of the reactor's 43 fuel elements partially melted in 1959, a serious incident which wasn't publicly disclosed until 1979. The site has been going through various stages of remediation, but people are still arguing about the standard it needs to be "cleaned up" to -- in other words, how clean is "clean?"

Perhaps analog photographers who drive along state highway 118 (the "Ronald Reagan Freeway") should take extra shielding along for their Tri-X. :shock:

Author:  Double Negative [ Thu Nov 12, 2015 12:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Kodak's Nuclear Reactor

Yeah, Brookhaven had a huge tritium issue, contaminating the ground - and of course, Three Mile Island needs no introduction...

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