A science editor for the Associated Press called it the "First Temple of the Atom." On September 5, 1953, inside a modest one-story laboratory at North Carolina State College, a 10-kilowatt research reactor designated R-1 achieved criticality -- making NC State the first academic institution in the United States to operate a nuclear reactor. The fuel was highly enriched uranyl sulfate, the design was homogeneous, and the ambition behind it was enormous. Four years earlier, administrators had recruited Dr. Clifford K. Beck from Oak Ridge National Laboratory with a single audacious goal: build a working reactor on a college campus and launch the nation's first university nuclear engineering curriculum.
The story begins in 1949, when Beck arrived in Raleigh carrying expertise forged at one of the Manhattan Project's most important sites. NC State College approved construction of a reactor that same year and established a nuclear engineering program -- the first of its kind at any university. The R-1 reactor operated briefly before corrosion problems caused fuel leakage and forced a shutdown. But the program pressed forward. In 1954, construction of Burlington Nuclear Laboratories began, funded jointly by the Atomic Energy Commission and Burlington Mills. That same year, NC State awarded the nation's first two doctoral degrees in nuclear engineering. In 1955, Dr. Raymond L. Murray, another Oak Ridge recruit, joined the faculty and went on to become the department's longest-serving head. The reactor program scaled up through successors R-2 and R-3 in 1957 and 1960, each more powerful than the last, all housed within that same Burlington building where classrooms surrounded the reactor bay.
By the late 1960s, the department faced a choice: upgrade the aging R-3 or start fresh. Dr. Martin Welt championed a complete replacement, and the department agreed. A new three-story addition rose beside the original Burlington Labs, and between the old and new buildings, a dedicated reactor building took shape. On August 25, 1972, the PULSTAR reactor -- a 1-megawatt pool-type reactor manufactured by American Machine and Foundry -- went operational at a cost of $1.5 million. Its name came from its signature capability: the ability to safely go super prompt critical and produce extremely short, intense pulses of radiation. The PULSTAR was one of only two such reactors ever built. Its sibling, a 2-megawatt unit at the State University of New York at Buffalo, went critical in 1964 but was decommissioned in 1994. The NC State PULSTAR remains the only one still operating.
The PULSTAR is no museum piece. Five beam ports adjacent to the reactor core feed a suite of research facilities that have evolved over decades. In the 1980s, a Prompt Gamma facility and a Neutron Radiography facility were added, enabling elemental analysis and non-destructive imaging that complements X-ray techniques by interacting with atomic nuclei rather than electron clouds. Cobalt-60 irradiators serve multiple university departments for sterilizing biological samples. An Ultra Cold Neutron Source slows reactor-produced neutrons through chambers of methane and heavy water for specialized physics research. In September 2007, students, faculty, and staff achieved a landmark: producing the most intense operating positron beam anywhere in the world -- generating antimatter on a university campus in downtown Raleigh. The reactor also trains nuclear utility operators, Department of Energy interns, and state radiation protection personnel.
Walk along Engineering Row on NC State's main campus and the PULSTAR's presence reveals itself in a single detail: a cooling tower that releases wisps of water vapor when the reactor runs at high power. The reactor building sits surrounded by Mann Hall, Polk Hall, and a quiet park -- an unlikely setting for a machine that splits atoms. The building is not a containment structure in the traditional sense, but it maintains negative pressure to prevent any release of radioactive material. The reactor can run at 100 kilowatts on natural circulation alone, or reach its full 1-megawatt thermal output with pumps engaged. Component upgrades for a planned increase to 2 megawatts thermal are already complete, awaiting regulatory approval -- a change that would double the neutron flux available for research. In 1997, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a 20-year license extension, and the PULSTAR continues to welcome public tours with advance notice.
The NC State reactor program spans more than seven decades, from Beck's arrival in 1949 through the R-1's brief but historic run, the evolution through R-2 and R-3, and the PULSTAR's half-century of continuous operation. Along the way, there have been setbacks -- the R-1's corrosion failure, a pinhole water leak detected in the PULSTAR's pool in July 2011 that required a temporary shutdown and specialized equipment to locate. But the program's trajectory has been remarkably upward. International partnerships, including a 2010 link with Jordan University of Science and Technology, have extended its reach. Thirty-four researchers outside the nuclear engineering department use the reactor and its facilities. What began as one physicist's recruitment from a national laboratory has become a cornerstone of nuclear science education and research, still humming at the heart of a campus that once dared to build the first temple of the atom.
Located at 35.786N, 78.669W on NC State's main campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. The reactor building along Engineering Row is not visually distinctive from altitude, but the single cooling tower releasing water vapor is a subtle identifier when the reactor operates at high power. Nearest airport is Raleigh-Durham International (KRDU), approximately 10 nm northwest. Recommend overflying at 2,000-3,000 ft AGL for campus context. The NC State campus sits immediately west of downtown Raleigh, bounded by Western Boulevard to the south and Hillsborough Street to the north.