Looking out over the flat expanse south of Arco, its understandable why it has been used for nuclear reactor experimentation and development. Any slip ups would render uninhabitable a plain already devoid of trees or towns. It's pretty empty here still, with most of the 900-square mile Idaho National Engineering Laboratory still closed to the public.
A historical marker at a scenic pull-off brags that "Since 1949, more nuclear reactors -- over 50 of them -- have been built on this plain than anywhere else in the world."
The world's first peacetime use of nuclear power occurred when the US Government switched on Experimental Breeder Reactor #1 (EBR1) near Arco, Idaho on December 20, 1951. The town of Arco became the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power from a reactor built near EBR-I, the BORAX III reactor, on July 17, 1955. It was only temporary, but the way was paved for commercial use of nuclear power later in the decade. The Arco reactor suffered a partial meltdown -- another World's First, in 1955. There's no highway sign bragging about that.
At EBR1, tours are self-guided. See "the hot cell" protected from you by 34 layers of oil-separated glass! They made plutonium-239 in this blocky building. Photography is allowed, and you can act out your own China Syndrome in the main control room.
Outside, picnic tables are thoughtfully provided under a pair of house-sized atomic jet engines, another experiment. Nowadays the site likes to promote its peacetime mission and environmental charter.
