Talk:Arco, Idaho

Nuclear meltdown
It says in the article that the first meltdown was in 1961. But if you go to the nuclear power page, it says 1955. I looked around some sites and 1955 seems to be right. Should it be changed, or is there something I'm missing (they did site a book source). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.112.85.227 (talk) 02:36, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Seems like the event in 1955 was a partial meltdown. The "first" that occurred in 1961 was the "first fatal nuclear accident." Ando228 (talk) 14:03, 2 October 2008 (UTC)


 * SL-1 had a steam explosion due to nearly instantaneously going critical when the main control rod was accidentally pulled completely out of the core during a maintenance operation to reconnect the control rod motors that had just been serviced. The rods were under-sized for the reactor so boron strips were added to the faces of the rods. The strips deteriorated in the hot water and pieces flaking off caused the rods to stick. There was no safety stop on the main rod. The theory of the cause of the accident is the main rod stuck then suddenly came free as it was being lifted to reconnect to its motor. A worldwide search found only one other reactor with a design where pulling one large rod out could cause an explosion (IIRC in Iceland) and a safety stop was installed. Bizzybody (talk) 07:23, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

First Nuke Powered?
From the article:
 * Arco was the first community in the world ever to be lit by electricity generated by nuclear power. This occurred on July 17, 1955.

How does this "jive" with the history of Fort Belvoir SM-1 Nuclear Reactor:
 * The decommissioned 10-megawatt thermal reactor at Fort Belvoir, VA, is notable as first nuclear power reactor in the U.S. to provide electricity to a commercial power grid. It has an interesting history in that it was a test bead for various designs of portable reactors that the Navy envisioned being moved to remote locations on self-contained ships and aircraft.

http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/story16.htm

Also see this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-1

Jake b 22:25, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

The link to SM-1 says it first went critical in 1957, two years after Arco was powered.

It also refers to "a commercial power grid", which the Arco instance was not. Ando228 (talk) 15:09, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant claims to be first on June 26, 1954. The Arco experiment ran for less than an hour, then the town's power was switched back to conventional sources. Was it connected to the power grid for over a year before it was actually used to produce electricity? Bizzybody (talk) 07:26, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Although the questions above were raised a number of years ago, I'll attempt to clarify here: In 1954, Obninsk Nuclear Power Station was the first (anywhere in the world) to contribute electricity (on a small scale) to a power grid, but it was only one of several sources doing so, and it was disconnected from the grid in 1959. The reactor at Fort Belvoir likewise contributed to the power grid starting in 1957, but also was not the sole source of electricity in that area. It was the first in the US to do so, however, and stayed online for a couple of decades. The situation in Arco was different: The town of Arco was exclusively powered by nuclear power, for a one hour test on July 17, 1955, with no concurrent connection to the commercial power grid. I hope this helps anyone reading this to understand the differences between the claims made for each reactor. Etamni &#124; &#9993; &#124; ✓ 21:33, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

Historial photograph
The Library of Congress is hosting a landscape photograph of Arco from 1909 that can be added to this page when there is space. It seems to be too short an article at the moment. Ando228 (talk) 15:09, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

No mention of Nuclear Radiation?
I was under the impression there were residual nuclear radiation due to the meltdown. Why is there no talk here about this? Should not we have children born deformed, etc? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Presidentbalut (talk • contribs) 19:07, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 08:11, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

History to include Blaine County and Original name of the town
Butte County was made up from part of Blaine County

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_County,_Idaho

"The county was established in 1917 from parts of Bingham, Blaine, and Jefferson counties. The county gained territory in the Clyde area from Custer County in 1937 to reach its present boundary.[3]"

that part of Blaine County that became Butte County in 1917 included Arco

the 1900 U.S. Federal Census as seen on ancestry.com for the area of district 0022, Arco, Blaine County, Idaho, United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_County,_Idaho

The name Root Hag is mentioned in the article, but there is no mention of Kennedy Crossing or Lower Crossing

"The first settlement in Butte County occurred about four miles (6 km) south of the present town site of Arco in 1878.[4] The settlement was then known by the names of Kennedy Crossing and Lower Crossing of the Lost River and was located in eastern Alturas County. Once the post office was established in 1879, the settlement became known as Arco.[5]" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.2.17.119 (talk) 21:43, 12 February 2022 (UTC)