BORAX experiments

[4][3] BORAX-I experiment proved that a reactor using direct boiling of water would be practical, rather than unstable, because of the bubble formation in the core.

[5] Subsequently, the reactor was used for power excursion tests which showed that rapid conversion of water to steam would safely control the reaction.

The tests proved key safety principles of the design of modern nuclear power reactors.

BORAX-V continued the work on boiling water reactor designs, including the use of a superheater.

Debris from BORAX-I is buried about 2,730 feet (830 m) northwest of the Experimental Breeder Reactor-1, a publicly accessible national monument.

In 1995, the EPA ordered the primary remedy of the burial ground to be: "Containment by capping with an engineered barrier constructed primarily of native materials.

This risk calculation ignores the shielding provided by the soil cover, which at the time of the EPA decision had reduced exposure to little more than background level, and makes very pessimistic modeling assumptions that greatly increase the projected risk, to deliberately focus on the high rather than low effect side.