Old reactor demolished at Idaho National Lab

ARCO, Idaho – An icon of Idaho’s contribution to the nuclear age is no longer.

The dome-shaped “Loss-of-Fluid” test reactor building at the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho was demolished last week by workers using explosives and heavy equipment.

Destruction of the 1/60th scale version of a commercial nuclear power plant comes as part of a seven-year, $7.9-billion project to clean up material and equipment left over from decades of tests at the 890-square-mile federal nuclear research area.

In the 1950s, the reactor was erected to support America’s race to be the first country to build a nuclear-powered airplane. Though that ill-fated program was abandoned by President Kennedy – there’s still an exhibit on the plane project on the atomic reservation – the dome remained, helping scientists eventually conduct 38 reactor experiments including replications of the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania.

When the dome didn’t completely collapse during Thursday’s explosive detonation, workers had to attack the structure with cutting torches.

“The dome was a challenge all in itself,” said Amy Lientz, a spokeswoman for the Idaho National Laboratory, of the 97-foot-tall structure made of thick carbon steel.

Decades ago, authorities at federal nuclear regulatory agencies had a spectacular plan for the LOFT reactor: to stage a meltdown of its nuclear core by making breaks in the pipes that delivered coolant. But nuclear regulatory agencies eventually decided the reactor was more useful as a safety testing facility.

LOFT operations ceased in 1985 and the reactor was deactivated and removed. The building hasn’t been used since then.