The U.S. Army Tried Portable Nuclear Power at Remote Bases 60 Years Ago
The U.S. military’s first attempts at land-based portable nuclear reactors didn’t work out well in terms of environmental contamination, cost, human health, and international relations. That history is worth remembering as the military considers new mobile reactors.
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IN A TUNNEL 40 FEET beneath the surface of the Greenland ice sheet, a Geiger counter screamed. It was 1964, the height of the Cold War. U.S. soldiers in the tunnel, 800 miles from the North Pole, were dismantling the Army’s first portable nuclear reactor.
The Army called the reactor portable, even at 330 tons, because it was built from pieces that each fit in a C-130 cargo plane. It was powering Camp Century, one of the military’s most unusual bases.
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https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...uclear-reactor