The Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment

A 1958 film about a weird reactor

By Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., 2024-12-13 , Reading time: 5 minutes

In 1958 the Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment (OMRE) was put into operation at the National Reactor Testing Station (now Idaho National Lab). Its objective was to determine the feasibility of using hydrocarbons as a moderator, reflector, and coolant in a nuclear power reactor. Such fluids promised a low-pressure, non-corrosive, medium-temperature, material that did not become significantly activated by neutrons. The unknowns it was testing were the stability of suitable hydrocarbons under temperature and radiation environments encountered in power reactors. We found this 1958 film in the National Archives and got it digitized.

You can also see the same film with its original Spanish soundtrack here.

Catalog description: This film presents a pictorial summary of the fabrication and operation of the OMRE facility at the USAEC 's National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho, being conducted by Atomics International to investigate the use of organic materials as a reactor coolant, for transferring heat and for moderating neutrons. The film also depicts the technique of melting the organic moderator and methods of monitoring.

This is film 88405 in our catalog.

Thanks to Mikal Bøe for sponsoring the digitization of this film, and to Shirly Rodriguez Rojas for translating the original soundtrack from Spanish to English and providing the English soundtrack/narration.

The Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment

A 1958 film about a weird reactor

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