Editing Integral fast reactor (section)

==History==
Research on IFR reactors began in 1984 at [[Argonne National Laboratory]] in Argonne, Illinois, as a part of the [[U.S. Department of Energy]]'s national laboratory system, and currently operated on a contract by the [[University of Chicago]].

[[File:EBRII 1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Experimental Breeder Reactor II]] (EBR II)]]

Argonne previously had a branch campus named "Argonne West" in [[Idaho Falls, Idaho]], that is now part of the [[Idaho National Laboratory]]. In the past, at the branch campus, [[physicist]]s from Argonne West built what was known as the [[Experimental Breeder Reactor II]] (EBR-II). In the meantime, physicists at Argonne designed the IFR concept, and it was decided that the EBR-II would be converted to an IFR. Charles Till, a Canadian physicist from Argonne, was the head of the IFR project, and Yoon Chang was the deputy head. Till was positioned in Idaho, while Chang was in Illinois.

===Cancellation===

With the election of President [[Bill Clinton]] in 1992, and the appointment of [[Hazel O'Leary]] as the [[Secretary of Energy]], there was pressure from the top to cancel the IFR.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/interviews/till.html |title=Dr. Charles Till &#124; Nuclear Reaction &#124; FRONTLINE |publisher=PBS |date=2014-01-16 |access-date=2014-01-24}}</ref> Senator [[John Kerry]] (D-MA) and O'Leary led the opposition to the reactor, arguing that it would be a threat to non-proliferation efforts, and that it was a continuation of the [[Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project]] that had been canceled by Congress.<ref>{{cite web|title=ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT OF 1995 (Senate – June 30, 1994)|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r103:1:./temp/~r103oezoex:e89574:|work=103rd Congressional Record|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=16 December 2012|archive-date=10 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110042419/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r103%3A1%3A.%2Ftemp%2F~r103oezoex%3Ae89574%3A|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Simultaneously, in 1994 Energy Secretary O'Leary awarded the lead IFR scientist with $10,000 and a gold medal, with the citation stating his work to develop IFR technology provided "improved safety, more efficient use of fuel and less [[radioactive waste]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Ax Again Aimed at Argonne (Chicago Tribune – Feb 8, 1994)|date=8 February 1994 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/02/08/ax-again-aimed-at-argonne-project/|publisher=Chicago Tribune|access-date=18 March 2015}}</ref>

IFR opponents also presented a report<ref>
Report of investigation into allegations of retaliation for raising safety and quality of work issues regarding Argonne National Laboratory's Integral Fast Reactor Project, Report Number DOE/NS-0005P, 1991 Dec 01
OSTI Identifier	OSTI ID: 6030509,</ref> by the DOE's Office of Nuclear Safety regarding a former Argonne employee's allegations that Argonne had retaliated against him for raising concerns about safety, as well as about the quality of research done on the IFR program. The report received international attention, with a notable difference in the coverage it received from major scientific publications. The British journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' entitled its article "Report backs whistleblower", and also noted conflicts of interest on the part of a DOE panel that assessed IFR research.<ref>Report backs whistleblower, Nature 356, 469 (9 April 1992)</ref> In contrast, the article that appeared in ''Science'' was entitled "Was Argonne Whistleblower Really Blowing Smoke?".<ref>''Science'', Vol. 256, No. 5055, 17 April 1992</ref> 

===Since 2000===

In 2001, as part of the [[generation IV reactor|Generation IV]] roadmap, the DOE tasked a 242-person team of scientists from DOE, [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]], [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT), Stanford, ANL, [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]], [[Toshiba]], [[Westinghouse Electric Company|Westinghouse]], [[Duke University|Duke]], [[Electric Power Research Institute|EPRI]], and other institutions to evaluate 19 of the best reactor designs on 27 different criteria. The IFR ranked #1 in their study which was released April 9, 2002.<ref name=G4ES-2002>[http://www.skirsch.com/politics/ifr/DOEnuclearstudy.pdf Generation IV roadmap. Evaluation Summaries. 2002] 18 slides – some illegible</ref>

At present, there are no integral fast reactors in commercial operation. However, the [[BN-800 reactor]], a very similar fast reactor operated as a burner of [[plutonium]] stockpiles, became commercially operational in 2014.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}