Arco, Idaho (08-30-17)

Arco is a very small town, with not one, but two claims to fame!

Craters of the Moon National Monument

I really had no idea what to expect at Craters of the Moon, although I suppose that, having never really given it any thought, I expected a crater.

Well, there are lots of craters. This area is a Great Rift- a series of fissures along which a line of volcanoes erupted. (you can see two of them in this picture).

The oldest eruption was about 15,000 years ago and the latest, about 2000 years ago.  They sure left behind a lot of lava!

Along the 7 mile scenic drive, there are lots of features to look at, such as small cones and lava fields. This is Spatter Cone.  Nearby is Snow Cone. You can look down into Snow cone and see…snow.

That’s amazing because as we are walking these short trails, the temperature topped out at 97*.

By the time we had walked to the top of Inferno Cone, we decided it was too hot to do everything in one day, as we had planned, so we extended our stay by one day. To get a perspective on size, there are people in this picture.

It was actually pretty at the top and worth the perspiring to get up there.

We walked the two mile trail to “Tree Molds”.  These were trees that were incinerated when the lava flow came through, and a mold of the tree was left behind. The tree on the left was standing upright, and the tree on the right was laying on the ground.  You can see the outline of the bark and also the indentations where the branches were.
























The following morning we were up and ready to some exploring.

There are several lava tubes that you can walk into. The largest one has an opening at both ends, so its basically a tunnel.

In some areas, the roof had caved in, allowing more light in, but also making the walk a little more challenging.


















This was the “exit” at the end of this particular tube.

EBR-1

Done with the National Monument, after lunch we headed over to EBR-1, or Experimental Breeder Reactor 1, where we got a guided tour of the facility.



After World War II, the U.S. government wanted to find out if atomic energy could be used for peaceful, commercial purposes.

Instead of exploding,  the blend of power in a breeder reactor is designed to supply steady power over a long period of time, instead of a split second, like a bomb.





I got quite the education on nuclear power but I actually found it very interesting, and asked a bunch of questions.



Arco is where this breeder reactor was built, and in fact, on December 20, 1951, 4 light bulbs were successfully lit, using power from the reactor.  The following day, all of the power for the building was supplied by the reactor.


The experiment was a success.







Taking things one step further, nearby Borax III nuclear reactor successfully powered the city of Arco, for just one hour ( it was an experiment).  So, Arco became the first town to be completely  run by nuclear power.