The Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR) was the first reactor built in the U.S. for peacetime atomic research following World War II. Over 18 years, an estimated 25,000 scientific experiments were carried out using the neutrons produced in the facility's 700-ton graphite core. In addition to advancing the understanding of atomic nuclei and the structures of solid materials, the BGRR helped produce groundbreaking medical isotopes that are particularly useful in diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases. In this 1957 photo, a researcher works on the south face of the BGRR. | Photo courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory.
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