[ashtonkem]

Nuclear reactions were first mastered in Illinois, but arguably Idaho gets credit for the first generation of electricity via nuclear reactor with the 100kW EBR-1 in 1951. Credit for the first grid-tied nuclear power plant goes to the Soviets, with the commissioning of the the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant in 1954. Curiously the latter produced a miniscule amount of power by modern standards, with a mere 5MW of nameplate capacity.

[selectodude]

The reactor out in Idaho was designed and built as Chicago Pile-4 and was only placed in Idaho because our there it couldn’t blow up around anything that mattered.

I’m not sure a reactor designed, built and operated by scientists at the university of Chicago has much to do with Idaho.

Note: as a native Chicagoan and a lover of nuclear energy, I take this stuff overly seriously :)