Spread over nearly 900 square miles in the high desert of eastern Idaho, lies the vast campus of the Idaho National Laboratory. Much of the campus is closed to the public, except a small part where you can see what remains today of the world’s first nuclear power plant.

The Idaho National Laboratory has been involved in nuclear research for close to seventy years now. Much of what we know today of nuclear reactors and how they behave and misbehave was discovered here. More than 50 nuclear reactors have been built on this site, including the world’s first electricity-generating nuclear power plant and the power plant for the world's first nuclear submarine.

A mock setup of the four bulbs that lit up on the historic day. Photo credit: Kelly Michals/Flickr