Kodak's secret underground nuclear reactor.

[Dinner]

The Kodak Company might have gone bust but until recently their company headquarters featured a secret nuclear reactor complete with 3.5 lbs of weapons grade uranium. My first question is why did they think they needed a secret basement nuclear reactor and WTF were they thinking putting it in the middle of downtown Rochester, NY?

[hide][top]Kodak Had a Secret Nuclear Reactor Loaded With Enriched Uranium Hidden In a Basement

Kodak may be going under, but apparently they could have started their own nuclear war if they wanted, just six years ago. Down in a basement in Rochester, NY, they had a nuclear reactor loaded with 3.5 pounds of enriched uranium—the same kind they use in atomic warheads.
But why did Kodak have a hidden nuclear reactor loaded with weapons-grade uranium? And how did they get permission to own it, let alone install it in a basement in the middle of a densely populated city?
Nobody really knows. Kodak officials now admit that they never made any public announcement about it. In fact, nobody in the city—officials, police or firemen—or in the state of New York or anywhere else knew about it until it was recently leaked by an ex-employee. Its existence and whereabouts were purposely kept vague and only a few engineers and Federal employees really knew about the project.
It's extremely strange that Kodak managed to get something like this. According to Miles Pomper, from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington. it's "such an odd situation because private companies just don't have this material." While 3.5 pounds of weapons-grade uranium is not enough to create a nuclear bomb, illegal arm merchants are seeking small amounts like this to put them for sale in the black market—which is why the United States has such a tight control on this material. The government doesn't want Iran or al-Qaeda getting their hands all over the atomic candy for obvious reasons.
Kodak's purpose for the reactor wasn't sinister: they used it to check materials for impurities as well as neutron radiography testing. The reactor, a Californium Neutron Flux multiplier (CFX) was acquired in 1974 and loaded with three and a half pounds of enriched uranium plates placed around a californium-252 core.
The reactor was installed in a closely guarded, two-foot-thick concrete walled underground bunker in the company's headquarters, where it was fed tests using a pneumatic system. According to the company, no employees were ever in contact with the reactor. Apparently, it was operated by atomic fairies and unicorns.
It wasn't until 2006, well after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, that it was decided to dismantle it.

http://gizmodo.com/5909961/kodak-had-a-secret-weapons+grade-nuclear-reactor-hidden-in-a-basement#13369723495213&{%22type%22:%22iframeUpdated%22,%22height%22:282}

[Hauldren Collider]

Is this for real? Holy ****!

[The Mad Monk]

Seems reasonable. I would expect pharmaceutical companies to have similar.

[regexcellent]

You're late. This was in the D&C (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) a few days ago.

The reactor is really small and only contains a few pounds of uranium, rather than the 130 pounds or so you need for a bomb. That article is kind of ridiculous.

They needed it as a cheap neutron source.

Here's the D&C article:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...nclick_check=1

[The Mad Monk]

The problem is that people forget that "reactor" does not equal "power plant".

[regexcellent]

Basically even if it did melt down, it wouldn't be particularly dangerous. If I recall correctly RPI in Troy has a much bigger one for the nuclear engineering program.

[Lorizael]

I lived about a mile from NIST for the first two decades of my life. Nuclear reactors ain't no thang.

[regexcellent]

Hmm, what's left in Rochester now that Kodak's gone? Xerox?



And they had cool stuff like this.

[Provost Harrison]

I bet they were going to nuke Fuji...one way to eliminate the competition

[regexcellent]

Competition in chemical film? That's like competing over Jerry Springer's bowel movements.

[Provost Harrison]

Competition in chemical film? That's like competing over Jerry Springer's bowel movements.

Well this is what killed Kodak isn't it...they didn't adapt to the times well. Film is now a niche thing.

[Felch]

Weapons grade? Isn't that > 80% U235? Either Kodak has some seriously sweet connections, or the author of this piece is sloppy with his terminology.

[regexcellent]

South Africa made nukes with just 20%. Military reactors for ships and submarines frequently go into the 50%+ range, I think. Ogie's a nuclear engineer, right? Can we have his input?

[MRT144]

Hmm, what's left in Rochester now that Kodak's gone? Xerox?



And they had cool stuff like this.

Sounds like Rochester is a dump.

[Proteus_MST]

Dr. Sheldon Cooper was the one who built it for them, isn´t it?

[Hauldren Collider]

Sounds like Rochester is a dump.

It's better than philly.

[regexcellent]

Sounds like Rochester is a dump.

**** you

The truth is there isn't as much here as there used to be, but that's true in the whole region ever since the Erie Canal went out of business. Most of New York outside of New York City is along the old Erie Canal route; Albany, Schenectady, Syracuse, Rocheseter, Buffalo. Rochester hasn't been hit nearly as hard as Buffalo, and there are actually quite a few major companies here, such as Xerox, Gannett, and Wegmans (though I think Gannet moved its HQ to Virginia recently, it still has a lot of operations here). Plus there's loads of optics stuff.

Rochester is in decline but it's doing well considering this is the rust belt.

[DaShi]

Siberia.

[-Jrabbit]

Interesting story.

[N35t0r]

According to the company, no employees were ever in contact with the reactor. Apparently, it was operated by atomic fairies and unicorns.

[Kuciwalker]

Little known fact: unicorns were invented during the Manhattan Project.

[Wiglaf]

Why did the Manhattan Project give EVERYONE the ability to build nukes?

[Felch]

Sloppy security.

[Wiglaf]

Was it really nearly instantaneous like in Civ 2?

[Felch]

Absolutely. Sid Meier would never put anything into his games that wasn't historically accurate. Don't you remember the battle of London in 1862, when English Elephants defeated an American Armor regiment?

[Wiglaf]

That's a category error. I took philosophy in college, and scored an A.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

South Africa made nukes with just 20%. Military reactors for ships and submarines frequently go into the 50%+ range, I think. Ogie's a nuclear engineer, right? Can we have his input?

My expertise is around power plants using light water reactors (BWR or PWR's) where U235 is in the 3-5% range. A number of my collegues come from the Navy and are as one would expect tight lipped about the reactor designs. I do know the naval reactors are quite small (comparatively speaking) and use highly enriched uranium.

Sounds to me from the article that the amount of fissile material was small, I am uncertain from the article itself that the layout of the material and the Californium neutron source that the reactor could even reasonably go critical.

As for the question about what is weapons capable anything greater than 20% is a concern. Typically weapons grade is spoken of as greater than 90% though.

[N35t0r]

Was it really nearly instantaneous like in Civ 2?

By the time I built it, turns were still 20 or 10 years long, so enough time for espionage to go on.

[Dinner]

Hmm, what's left in Rochester now that Kodak's gone? Xerox?



And they had cool stuff like this.

Not exactly Rochester but the finger lakes region has apparently grown to become one of the country's most notable up and coming wine regions.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20...state-new-york

They're combining fine wine with local artisan cheese makers and craft brewers to make the region into a real tourist attraction especially with all the fine lake views and abundant local forest lands to hike in.

[Uncle Sparky]

Cornell scientists new about it.