THE DEMISE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY?

1 Vallecitos was a prototype reactor built by Bechtel and operated jointly by GE and PG&E. The table in the book describes it as "Valecitos (built by industry)". This reactor was shut down in 1963, but a small research reactor and materials laboratory operate on the site neat Pleasanton, California.

2 Peach Bottom was a prototype helium-cooled reactor. Ordered in 1958, it ran from 1966 through 1974. Two GE boiling-water reactors, each rated at about 1,180MWe, now operate at the site on the Maryland border in York County, Pennsylvania.

3 Located near Platteville, Fort St. Vrain was Colorado's only nuclear power plant. Proposed in 1965, it ran from 1977 through 1992. This follow-on to the Peach Bottom prototype HTGRE was considered a technical success. Due to frequent shutdowns, however, it failed commercially. The site now houses a power plant running on natural gas.

4 Operated from 1951 through 1964 at the Idaho Engineering Laboratory, EBR 1 proved Enrico Fermi's idea that fissionable fuel could be made in such reactors. It also was the first nuclear reactor to generate useful electric power. More important, it proved out many of the safety features inherent in the Integral Fast Reactor concept. It is now a national landmark.

5 This was a sodium-cooled reactor located at the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station outside Detroit. Rated at 94MWe, it suffered a partial core meltdown in October 1966; it was repaired and run again, but decommissioned in 1975. A boiling-water reactor of GE design, rated 1,098MWe, has operated at this plant since 1988, and the plant owner applied in 2008 for the license to build and operate a 1,520MWe unit.