Tag Archives: Atomic Calendar

Download October 2025 Atomic Tourism Calendar

Weldon Spring Site and Interpretive Center. Steps to the top. — Steps to the top of the Weldon Spring Site.

This month’s calendar features the Weldon Spring Site and Interpretive Center. Specifically, the featured image is the entrance to take the steps to the top of the site for an interesting panoramic view of the area.

The U.S. government acquired 17,232 acres of rural land, displacing 576 residents and three towns to establish the Weldon Spring Ordnance Works supporting World War II efforts for manufacturing TNT and DNT.

TNT in St. Charles County — TNT Marker noting the displacement of residents.

From 1956 – 1967, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission constructed the Weldon Spring Uranium Feed Materials Plant to convert uranium ore concentrates to pure uranium oxides and compounds. Obviously, by 1987, with production ceasing, the DOE was left with a massive Superfund cleanup site.

Weldon Spring Site disposal cell structure — Weldon Spring disposal cell structure from afar.

The outstanding feature of the Weldon Spring Site is the 41 acre, 75 foot tall engineered disposal cell structure designed to contain the site’s waste. Now a public park with walking trails, bird watching, mountain biking, and native, restored prairie, the disposal cell stairway takes you to the top of the mound with a panoramic view of the area with historical markers.

Weldon Spring Marker at the top of the disposal cell.

Be sure to go to the Interpretive Center that explains more about the area, the TNT manufacturing, the Atomic Energy Commission’s use for uranium materials, and the Department of Energy cleanup.

Weldon Springs Interpretive Site — Weldon Spring Site and Interpretive Center, Saint Charles, MO.

Be sure to download the October 2025 calendar featuring significant atomic events and atomic shots occuring during the month of October.

AtomicTourism October 2025 Download

Download September 2025 Atomic Tourism Calendar

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EBR-1 near Arco, Idaho — Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 (EBR-1) outside Arco, Idaho.

This month’s calendar features the Experimental Breeder Reactor I (EBR-1) which is just a short drive from Arco, Idaho, across from the Idaho National Laboratories.

EBR-I began power operation on August 24, 1951, and was decomissioned in 1964. It was dedicated as a Registered National Historic Landmark on August 25, 1966, by President Lyndon Johnson and Glenn Seaborg, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. On June 4, 2004, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) dedicated the facility as a Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing.

EBR-1 was the first operating breeder reactor, which produces more fuel for the fission process than it consumes. The breeding process involved converting uranium-238 into plutonium via fast neutrons. This then heated a liquid metal (sodium-potassium alloy) through a heat exchanger for coolant, in turn heating water into steam for turbine electrical generation.

The reactor was completed in 1951, and on December 20, 1951, it became the world’s first nuclear power plant, generating enough electricity to power four 200-watt light bulbs.

EBR-1 generator — EBR-1 Generator with replicas of the four 200-watt light bulbs.

EBR-1 light bulb — One of the four original light bulbs lit by nuclear power on December 20, 1951.

EBR-1 is a museum in which visitors can wander throughout the building on a self-guided tour (May through September) to see various exhibits and information about the breeder reactor. These two exhibits note that on December 21, 1951, all of the electrical power in the building was supplied by atomic energy.

Be sure to download this month’s calendar featuring significant atomic events from 1933 to 1994 as well as 80 atomic shots conducted during September since 1945, including the last nuclear shot on September 23, 1992 (Julin: Divider).

AtomicTourism September 2025 Download

Download August 2025 Atomic Tourism Calendar

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For August, 2025, the calendar features the International Friendship Bell located at AK Bissell Park in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The bell was cast in Kyoto, Japan in 1993, and is a symbol of peace and unity between the United States and Japan.

Shigeko Uppuluri, an Oak Ridge resident born in Japan, and her husband, Dr. Ram Uppuluri, an employee of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, had the proposal to create the bell after visiting a Buddhist temple in Japan. Oak Ridge artist Suzanna Harris designed two of the outer bell panels – one of Tennessee symbols and the other of Japanese symbols.

International Friendship Bell Tennessee Panel — Tennessee panel of the International Friendship Bell.

International Friendship Bell Japan Panel — Japanese panel of the International Friendship Bell.

The other two panels commemorate the dates of Pearl Harbor, V-J Day, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Commemorative Dates on the International Friendship Bell — One of the commemorative dates on the panels of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The pavilion that houses the bell was designed by Jon Coddington, combining elements of Asian and Western architecture reflecting East Tennessee’s cantilevered barns.

The bell is rung commemoratively on August 6, for each year since the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. This year will mark the 80th anniversary of “Little Boy” being dropped on Hiroshima, and the National Park Serivce will ring the bell 80 times at dawn (6:47 AM EDT) on Wednesday, August 6, 2025.

You can download this month’s calendar that includes significant atomic events that occured in August over the years as well as a listing of all the atomic shots conducted.

AtomicTourism August 2025 Download