Ford Nuclear Reactor

During its operation, the FNR was used to study medicine, cellular biology, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, archeology, anthropology, and nuclear science.

The decommissioned FNR building, Phoenix Memorial Laboratory, still stands on North Campus at the University of Michigan.

In 2015 a $12 million dollar renovation began on the reactor space itself to transform the area into a new laboratory for the Nuclear Engineering department at the university.

It originated from a student-led effort to establish a functional memorial commemorating the members of the university community who had died in World War II, and was ultimately funded by over 25,000 private contributors by individuals and corporations, such as the Ford Motor Company, which donated $1 million for the establishment of a research reactor.

A full page poster was printed in the Michigan Daily suggesting that the Phoenix Project will show that Americans can work to benefit the world.

With Ralph Sawyer, Henry Gomberg, and Ardath Emmons standing by, the reactor achieved first criticality around 4 in the morning on September 19, 1957.

The Phoenix Lab featured a greenhouse, allowing for much of the early work on the effects of radiation on plant life to be done.

Nuclear engineers often used the reactor for neutron activation analysis, a science capable of measuring trace amounts of materials.

In June 1997, the Ford Nuclear Reactor Review Committee submitted a report to the Vice President for Research (Vince Pecoraro, at the time) on the future of the FNR.

Gary Was from the department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences explained that over 15 NERS courses rely on the reactor, as well as nearly every professor's research.

The statement given by UM Vice President for Research was: In recent years, however, the reactor's use by the U-M academic community has declined substantially to the point where the bulk of the users now come from the federal government and industry.

Given this change, the University can no longer justify the reactor's substantial cost of operation, which now largely subsidizes non-University users.