Oak Ridge X-10: Graphite Reactor Firsts

US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

The X-10 Graphite Reactor is located on the secure grounds of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In-person visitation is only authorized via guided tours.

Text down the right side of this panel reads,“The ORNL Graphite Reactor was the first reactor to: Produce microgram quantities of plutonium used in developing a nuclear weapon. Produce radioisotopes for science. Produce electricity from nuclear energy and provide a test bed for the light-water reactors used today. Enable studies of the health hazards of reactor radiation. Prove the reprocessing of nuclear fuel to be feasible. Produce a radioisotope, carbon-14, which was used to treat cancer. Enable the discovery of a new element. Enable studies of radiation damage to metals and the structure of matter using neutron scattering.”

Down the left side of the panel and across the bottom are a number of images. At top is a photograph of an atomic bomb, shaped like a metal football with a square tail section.

Below that is a photograph showing a view down on a grid of square compartment each with concentric circular structures inside.

Next down is a drawing showing the decay of carbon-14 into nitrogen-14 with the release of an electron and a neutrino.

At bottom left is an image of a white burst expanded to show a circle with a mass of round objects, like bubbles packed together.

At bottom right is a group of several images including a metal ring with another ring inside and a model of a crystalline solid at the atomic level.