Kodak Had A Secret Weapons-Grade Nuclear Reactor Hidden In A Basement

Kodak Had A Secret Weapons-Grade Nuclear Reactor 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 then? And how did they get permission to own it, let alone have 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 was purposely kept vague and only a few engineers and Federal employees really knew about it.

It’s extremely strange that Kodak managed to get this. According to Miles Pomper, from the centre for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington. it’s “such an odd situation because private companies just don’t have this material.”

Kodak didn’t use it or anything sinister (although the red in those Kodak moments was suspiciously radioactive looking). 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 regular employees were ever in contact with the reactor.

It wasn’t until 2006, well after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, that it was decided to dismantle it. [Democrat and Chronicle]


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