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NEW VIDEO! World's First Nuclear Power Plant (Patreon)

Published:
2025-01-31 17:38:20
Edited:
2025-02-27 16:56:09
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

For years I've wanted to do a series exploring Nuclear Power.  It's time. I recorded this video about a year ago in the wilderness of Idaho at Idaho National Labs.  I'm VERY EXCITED about this series, and I hope you are as well.  For the first video, my goal was to understand the fundamentals of how a nuclear power plant works.  I believe EBR-1, Experimental Breeder Reactor - 1 is an amazing place to start.  I hope you enjoy! 

There's also a second channel video with more content that I didn't think quite should make it into the main channel video. You can watch that here:

Second Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVzNPO1pZGo

Also, I'll make a follow up post available to supporting Patrons that includes all the 3D models I used to make the educational contraptions. I hope you enjoy!

Thank you so much for supporting on Patreon. It helps me make the videos I truly want to make. My goal is to make intelligent respectful content. Thank you for helping me do that!

Sincerely,

Destin

Files

I Explored the World's First Nuclear Power Plant (and How It Works) - Smarter Every Day 306

You can try AnyDesk for free. It's good. https://anydesk.com/smarter Get Email Updates: https://www.smartereveryday.com/email Second Channel Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVzNPO1pZGo ⇊ Click below for more links! ⇊ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have a suggestion or an offer for the Smarter Every Day Nuclear Series? Form: https://www.smartereveryday.com/manufacturing GET SMARTER SECTION Checkout Idaho National Laboratory: https://inl.gov/ Go see EBR-1 https://inl.gov/ebr/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_Breeder_Reactor_I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tweet Ideas to me at: http://twitter.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SmarterEveryDay Smarter Every Day on Patreon http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day On Instagram http://www.instagram.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day SubReddit http://www.reddit.com/r/smartereveryday Ambiance, audio and musicy things by: Gordon McGladdery https://www.ashellinthepit.com/ http://ashellinthepit.bandcamp.com/ If you feel like this video was worth your time and added value to your life, please SHARE THE VIDEO! If you REALLY liked it please consider supporting Smarter Every Day by becoming a Patron. http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Warm Regards, Destin

Comments

Matti Loimaranta

I’m looking forward to watching this episode! I’ve always been fascinated by nuclear energy

Greg Strike

This will be a fun series!

Arnau

Your channel and Veritasium were part of the reason I chose to study physics at university back in 2011, been subscribed ever since (and a patron since my first salary :) . I am now working in nuclear, and so excited that you are starting this series. Thanks for all your content, you do an amazing job.

Luke

Lets GOOOOOOOOO! I'm so excited for this series!

FarmWolf

Sooo looking forward to this!

Jacob Kaiser

I think I giggled a little too much at the flannel-graph demonstrations

Jocelyn Walters

Dude we live in Idaho Falls we totally would have had you over for dinner when you went to EBR1!! Really cool place, my grandfather worked out there as an electrical engineer in the 50s.

Andrew

Now I want to travel to Idaho. Thanks for the content!

Joseph Prespare

This is awesome. I hope you cover the work being done to change the laws to recycle nuclear waste as a fuel source for a reactor. Also love the old footage of the houses being blown over by the atomic blast but yet somehow, the camera stays put. Looking forward to this series!!!

James Prokop

You are so good at explaining this. Will you end with your perspective on the 26 April 1986 explosion of reactor No. 4 in Ukraine?

Kathleen McFadden

Excited to have a tool to explain to my family why a picture me standing next to a few old lightbulbs is cool.

Szymon Wlodarczyk

Destin, have you ever thought about visiting CERN? I work there, it has a lot of fantastic tours you can do and behind the scenes stuff you can see. It’s not exactly nuclear ENERGY, but nuclear science.

Dr. Vinny Bombatz

Why is it argon gas around "the pipe in the pipe"-section? Argon is pretty heat resistent so that would make it harder for the water to become steam, no?

smartereveryday

Thank you so much for being a loyal Patreon supporter! It means a ton. Also, how cool that you're working in nuclear energy!

Joshua Rittenhouse

I currently work at INL doing electron microscopy based characterization of nuclear fuels, structural materials, and other related materials with applications in nuclear. I am really looking forward to watching this episode and the rest of the series!

John Kennedy

Awesome video! Models were perfect. Can't get the neutrons sounds out of my head. Played it on the projector during school lunch and noticed a few students enjoying it.

John Cox

Bad link to suggestion form? At the end you say that there is a form to fill out if there is anything else we would like you to consider, but the form is specific for companies offering you access. Was there supposed to be another form for general suggestions?

Robert Sanges

I'm already excited about next year's stickers!

Milhouz

It was only in the second exchanger to the water loop. They explain that while yes Argon is heat resistant, they needed that because in case the pipes between the water and/or the liquid metal ruptured you would still create an explosion if there was contact made and oxygen was present.

Nathan Myers

Destin, you do your audience a disservice by failing to explain why no new nukes will come online without major subsidies or coercive contracts. Solar+wind+storage costs are on exponential curves downward, such that nothing driving a steam turbine can compete anymore. The gap widens daily, and it is a _good_ thing. Nukes are amazing tech, but have no place anymore.

Andrew Howell

Purdue University has an active nuclear reactor, as do a few other universities, I took a tour in high school. Not sure if you have any contacts there, but it's often used for tours and research, it's the only one in Indiana.

Clint Wadley

Your flannel board explanations were so good and clear. I love anything nuclear, and I'm so pumped for this series!

Clifton Ballad

Of all the comments I can add, I'm lost at the neon sign and Jolly's addition to the chalk wall. I've never been a part of anything that world changing, but I have worked on projects that had that kind of energy. Doing something that maybe 10-30 people (or less) in the whole world are working on, and having anything like success, is one of the more powerful feelings out there... The depth and respect they had for that neon sign speaks volumes. That they let Jolly add his name to the wall tells me a level of respect and humility that they had and how much they cared about Jolly and his efforts... I have Sooo many more comments and will be adding as many as I can. My Dad was an analytical chemist that specialized in radioactivity for the Knolls atomic lab, so I grew up knowing Alllll sorts of stuff about nuclear reactors.

Mike Jordan

My dad worked at GE's ANPD (I think you showed some of their work on this video). My best friend spent time in Idaho while in the Navy. It was great when they'd get together and talk about things they'd both seen at the facility in Idaho.

Steven Payne

Hey Destin. I'm sure you don't remember me but we met three times. I used to work at Wyle Labs and we did scram testing at several nuclear power plants. Of course, Wyle Huntsville sold to another firm, but there is still a group of engineers, in HSV, employed by Wyle. I have one contact left but I can't post. I'm sure you can find contacts. I'm not sure if they still do nuclear stuff.

NatR

Came here to say this! I suggest the string of 4 lightbulbs should feature somewhere 😊

Jonathan Longfellow

Very excited about this series! I'm fascinated by nuclear energy!

Jose Martinez

You’re wrong on so many levels it’s not even funny. Renewables are great as backups, but they will never be able to provide what nuclear does, and that is reliable base load energy. Right now nuclear power provides about 20-25% of all energy in the world. It would take a miracle to have renewables pick up the slack if all those reactors were taken offline. Yes, nuclear power has problems, but they're all fixable if we have the right people and funds to get the job done. Unfortunately, there are too many who are afraid of what could happen instead of what is possible. Nuclear power has killed far fewer people than all other forms of energy production, by a landslide.

Nathan Myers

Guess what: a terawatt of renewables went online last year; this year, two, next year four. Nukes are _not_ being built, and few planned will be completed, most not even started. For reasons. Nukes are being taken offline on a regular basis because they cost way more to operate than renewables, like everything that needs a steam turbine. Nukes' share of electric generation never exceeded 1/6, and in 2018 fell under 10%. Problems nukes have will not be fixed, because there is no point. Wishing will not change it.

Scott Cloutier

So excited about this series! As a former submarine reactor operator and now a civilian nuke worker, the submarine deep dive and now the nuclear power deep dive has me as excited as a fast neutron. Weeee!

Jon Reeves

Excellent series idea re nuclear power. I am originally from Oak Ridge TN and was steeped in the culture from birth. ORNL tested nuclear flight engines in 1954. Now in Huntsville retired from MSFC. Other tangential topics might be the Kennesaw materials radiation exposure lab near Atlanta GA and the NSS Savannah, a practical vehicle in the Atoms for Peace program.

Jocelyn Walters

INL at ARMF-1, moved from the east coast to work there. My family is loving this video btw, looking forward to this series and thanks for sharing!

Deanna C

I enjoyed it. wasn't this the site of a radiation leak in the 50s?

Deanna C

blame autocorrect

Deanna C

They used to have one at the Iniversity of Kansas I believe.

Bryan Frye

When I was a kid, I watched this old documentary on the first nuclear failure, and I was intrigued by making power from nuclear power. In addition to the Craters of the Moon training astronauts, it is a dark sky observatory, and its creation was caused over thousands of years by Yellowstone. I have been to the site so many times, but I learn a bit more every time, even though you own videos of the site. I can't wait to see what your videos show us in this series next! But I am sure you have two years of videos in that small section of land.

MushmouthMorton

Nathan --- I second Jose's comments. I have yet to see a "renewable" project succeed for a 10 year period. As for your statistics, your numbers are just wrong!

Nathan Myers

Sorry, wishing won't change published statistics. We all get the same facts, which are easily called up nowadays. There are many hundreds of GW of solar, wind, and hydro installations dating to before 2015, also easily called to a browser near you. You are anyway upholding the tradition of deception ("too cheap to meter!") that got us nukes in the first place. When your claim relies on falsehoods, fate will not be kind to it.

Jon Marinus

“They have nice fonts,” oh Destin thats so silly… (I thought the same thing as soon as I saw that sign on the bathroom😆)

WillieChaffin

Great timing. If for no other reason, nuclear energy will likely be extensively discussed in the next year or two. There is actually safe nuclear pallet technology now, and our perception of it may be misguided. Thanks Dustin or justin.

Daniel Brahneborg

In the most recent episode of 9-1-1 Lone Star a nuclear reactor is at risk, so in the first minute or so somebody yells SCRAM! Hey, I know what that is now. Axe Man! Thanks!

Joshua Bell

Hey Destin, I live in Idaho Falls and the INL is basically in our backyard. Thanks so much for doing this video. I have several friends that work out there and my dad is retired for the Department of Energy. If you ever comeback hit me up, you have a place to stay my friend. Plus there's lots more around here that you could do future videos on. The TV was invented just up the road and Yellowstone is full of amazing sciencey things! Bring the family, our casa es su casa!

Ethan Cole

Destin! I live in Richland Washington and my dad works at the Hanford site! Come visit us he will give you a tour

Ethan Cole

We also make good tacos

Gary Davis

Thank you. Well explained. When I was in grade school in NY, my next door neighbor was a VP for Con Edison. They had just built the commercial nuclear power plant at Indian Point, NY. He arranged for our class to have a field trip to Indian Point. I was so privileged to have that opportunity.

Brad Keener

Great video. Loved the brief segment on 3D printing. I use my SprintRay quite a bit in my dental office. Would love to see you do a deep dive into dental stuff.

maxmfs

What a great video. Makes me want to make the trek out to EBR-1 some day. I’m definitely going to share this with my kids. Well done!

WhiteMtHomesteader

University of Rhode Island has a small research reactor. I never had the chance to visit during undergrad but one of my professors Bahram Nassersharif is the nuclear engineering director. He might be a good person to reach out to.

Kurtis Moss

Me and my thoughts exactly!

Kurtis Moss

As much as I enjoy the nuclear content- I have deep gratitude for your character Destin. The world got to see Andrew at his best and in his element. His smile and confidence when he said, “This place is the perfect combo of history and engineering… my two greatest passions…” Bottom line- what you and the team at Smarter Every Day do makes huge impacts on real people. Crushing it. Also- my coworker is a very recently retired nuclear engineer coming from the world of nuclear subs in the Navy. A good resource- let me know if you’re interested!

Kathleen McFadden

Super fun fact! I was part of a group of students who went through and they totally let me scram that bad boy because I was plucky enough to take a guess at a question. My mom nearly had a heart attack when I called her that night; she thought I fell in. But it is a real cool place. If you get a chance to tour, they like to show off their ability to do power excursions at the Breezedale reactor at Penn State.

Ian Rampey

you should go to the oconee power plant

dwarfnose

I'm a little late for responding, but maybe you'll see it nevertheless. You asked if knew other power plants, that could be visited. And yes, I knew as quite interesting one:

Team Saunders

Not only are Destin and his videos cool, even the comments are cool. Truly this is also the internet at its best, doing what we all hoped it would do. Talk about nailing your mission statement: smarter every day….nothing more needed

Team Saunders

Jose is right Nathan. I am a huge renewables supporter, they have fundamentally changed our home setup for the better and are changing the energy security of my country (the U.K.) but Jose point about base load is correct. We have a huge amount of wind, increasing amounts of solar and battery storage and also pumped hydro. This is all great but we have to run gas turbines constantly to protect against slumps and surges. Balancing a 3 phase grid is a complex thing (a practical use of imaginary numbers which would be another great smarter every day video) and nuclear is the best solution to that problem from so many different perspectives. Don’t believe me - well you will know James Lovelock and his Gaia theory - he also understood this and said he would happily store nuclear waste (properly) under his back garden to heat his house for a hundred lifetimes. Power sources like DNA is all about be stronger and more resilient through diversity!

Jakub Klapka

I'm finally getting into the Nuclear series. Watching the first episode reminded me of the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant in Austria — a fully completed NPP, finished down to the last screw, but never switched on due to political turmoil back in the day. It took some effort to arrange an English tour, but since the plant never actually received any fuel, you can get incredibly close to the reactor and all the machinery. And because it’s one of the first-generation reactors, the process itself is still quite easy to grasp — you can literally connect what you see with how it works. The atmosphere there was absolutely breathtaking, and I bet you’d love it too.