• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Archives

Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

The Atomic Show #068 – Ray Haroldsen, Atomic Tinkerer who has tested the limits

September 16, 2007 By Rod Adams 3 Comments

Ray Haroldsen is an atomic pioneer who began working at the National Reactor Testing Station in January 1952. He talks today about his experiences with EBR 1 and the BORAX series of reactor experiments.

A good friend of mine contacted me recently and told me that I needed to interview Ray Haroldsen for the Atomic Show. He told me that Ray had a lot of interesting stories to tell about his experiences with many of the early test reactors developed at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho.

Ray is a good storyteller with a real depth of experience and a fantastic memory of long ago events. I guess that certain important days remain so clearly in memory that the stories can be told even after 55 years. Though these events happened even before I was born, they are still important parts of atomic history and influenced the development of major technical breakthroughs.

For this episode of the Atomic Show, Ray and I talked about his experiences with the Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 (EBR I) and his experiences with the BORAX (Boiling Reactor Experiment) series. I think you will find his stories worth a good listen and maybe even a repeat.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/AtomicShowFiles/tpn_atomic_20070915_068.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:26 — 20.1MB)

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Filed Under: Atomic history, Podcast, Technical History Stories

About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Robin Holt says

    September 22, 2007 at 11:43 PM

    Excellent job on the audio! This was a terrific episode both quantitatively and qualitatively. Please have Ray back again soon and keep up the wonderful sound work.

    Reply
  2. Atomikrabbit says

    July 27, 2013 at 2:13 PM

    Great stories. Thanks to Ray for his pioneering efforts to harness the stong force, and to Rod for helping to communicating it.

    15R in one exposure would make front page headlines today, guaranteeing fines, investigations, and additional regulations. For Ray and his teammates, it was a no-never-mind, just a part of doing what it took to get an important job done.

    Of course his generation showed themselves to be better at self-sacrifice, discipline, and courage than the radiophobia, nimbyism, and fearmongering that is rampant today.

    Reply
  3. DAVAGA says

    September 28, 2013 at 3:07 PM

    My grand father was an electrical engineer on that project.
    he tells some pretty good stories as well.
    As far hs he knows he is the only living member of that team.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You have to agree to the comment policy.



Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Join Rod’s pronuclear network

Join Rod's pronuclear network by completing this form. Let us know what your specific interests are.

Recent Comments

  • Gary Nicholls on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Jon Grams on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Eino on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • James R. Baerg on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • David on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Follow Atomic Insights

The Atomic Show

Atomic Insights

Recent Posts

Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Nuclear energy growth prospects and secure uranium supplies

Nucleation Capital’s Earth Day in Atherton

Atomic Show #296 – Julia Pyke, Director of Finance Sizewell C

Solar’s dirty secrets: How solar power hurts people and the planet

  • Home
  • About Atomic Insights
  • Atomic Show
  • Contact
  • Links

Search Atomic Insights

Archives

Copyright © 2022 · Atomic Insights

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy