What U.S. state has the most nuclear reactors? (Final Jeopardy clue 19 May 2005)

[bibliophage]

Thursday night's Final Jeopardy clue was "This state, besides having the first, also has the most nuclear reactors". The correct response was "What is Illinois?"

The clue confused me. I knew that that Illinois had the first nuclear reactor (Chicago Pile 1, 1942), but I thought that Idaho had the most nuclear reactors. Granted, this information comes from a hazy memory of reading a sign at the side of the highway five years ago somewhere between Arco and Idaho Falls. As best I can recall, the sign said that there were over 50 experimental reactors at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, more than any other place on earth.

I believe that Illinois does have the most commercial nuclear reactors today, but that can't be what they meant, since the first of those in the U.S. was in Shippingport, Pennsylvania (1957).

The latest list I have that includes research reactors is from 1962. At that time Illinois had 7 operable civilian reactors (1 commercial and 6 research/experimental). Idaho had 10 (all research/experimental). Each state also had several reactors that had already been dismantled. The 1962 list does not include military reactors. That may be important becase I think the Navy built a lot of reactors in Idaho, in addition to those built by the civilian Atomic Energy Commission and Department of Energy. Anybody have up-to-date figures of operable reactors? Preferably including land-based military reactors.

[robotic_panda]

Is this (http://www.nrc.gov/reactors.html) helpful? From what I could interpret, Illinois did seem to have the most reactors.

[ParentalAdvisory]

Is this (http://www.nrc.gov/reactors.html) helpful? From what I could interpret, Illinois did seem to have the most reactors.

I new Illinois had a lot of reactors, but damn, that's a lot of reactors!

[TJdude825]

I knew that that Illinois had the first nuclear reactor (Chicago Pile 1, 1942), but I thought that Idaho had the most nuclear reactors. Granted, this information comes from a hazy memory of reading a sign at the side of the highway five years ago somewhere between Arco and Idaho Falls. As best I can recall, the sign said that there were over 50 experimental reactors at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, more than any other place on earth. That may be true, but since this is a single laboratory, there could be hundreds of "places" in Illinois that each have less than 50 reactors, but taken all together, have more than 50, and indeed, more than in the entire state of Idaho.

[tofergregg]

So I suppose nobody stops to consider all of the nuclear reactors on Navy ships/submarines? Norfolk, VA, has a bunch of subs and a few nuclear ships in port at any given time, and that is sure to up the number in the state quite significantly. Groton, CT is in the same position, but with subs only (and not for long, it seems).

As an aside, my grandfather frequently works at the Norfolk Navy base, and he always wonders when he sees protesters outside a nearby commercial reactor whether they realize how manyother reactors are so close by.

Oh, and by the way, Nimitz class aircraft carriers have two reactors each (and the first nuclear carrier, Enterprise, had four (IIRC)).

-Tofer

[bibliophage]

Is this (http://www.nrc.gov/reactors.html) helpful? From what I could interpret, Illinois did seem to have the most reactors.Thanks. Yes, it's helpful because I didn't have that list of research and test reactors. Their lists seem to include only reactors regulated by the NRC, which I guess excludes those operated by the DOE or the Navy. But that doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I found the DOE's Idaho Operations Office webpage (http://www.id.doe.gov/). It says that of 52 reactors built over the years at the Idaho National Laboratory, only 3 remain in operation. So I guess the Jeopardy writers were right after all.

[Squink]

So I guess the Jeopardy writers were right after all.Technically, but, Idaho's collection of atomic aircraft engines (http://www.atomictourist.com/ebr.htm) lifts it above all the other states in sheer atom-based geeky goodness.

[1010011010]

The USS Enterprise is an eight cylinder. (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/U/US/USS_Enterprise_(CVN-65)5.htm)

The answer doesn't specify anything about the reactors, whether operating, commercial, research, military, decomissioned, under construction, or what.

Given that at any one time there are a number of nuclear reactors hanging around Chesapeake Bay (Norfolk Naval Base, Newport News Shipyards, etc.), I'd expect Virginia to be pretty high on the list. Likewise for any other state with a nuclear homeport.

The core graveyard in Hanford, WA, might push up it's numbers in addition to the multiple naval nuclear homeports.

Idaho National Laboratory (http://www.inl.gov/proving-the-principle/) has a long history of nuclear projects, as others have mentioned.

n any event, the first nuclear reactor (http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0010.shtml) was in operation in Oklo, Gabon, about 1.7Gya and operated for approximately 1M years.