D1G reactor
|
The D1G reactor was an prototype nuclear fission reactor constructed for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Naval Reactors as part of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.
The reactor was built by General Electric and operated by the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory at the Kesselring Site Operation in West Milton, New York from 1962. It was used for testing components and as a training tool (Nuclear Power Training Unit). It was shut down in March 1996 and later defuelled, the pressure vessel was removed in 2002. The containment vessel, which housed both the primary (nuclear reactor) and secondary (steam plant)was referred to as the "DIG-ball" due to its shape [a Horton Sphere constructed by Chicago Bridge and Iron Works]. The sphere was originally constructed to house the plant for USS SEAWOLF (SSN 575). The SEAWOLF's plant was cooled by liquid sodium, and the dome was designed to contain a liquid sodium explosion.