Rincon, Puerto Rico  2006

BONUS Nuclear Reactor

 

The "Dome"

The long-closed BONUS (Boiling Nuclear Superheated nuclear reactor), known locally as the Dome, came on-line in 1964.

The Dome reactor was built as a small-scale, prototype demonstration project to test the feasibility of BONUS technology, Tests reveled numerous and costly problems, and operations halted in 1968. Only two BONUS type reactors were ever built in the USA. 

I took this picture at sundown from our balcony. On the far side of the dome is popular Dome Beach. The tree is a flamboyant (Delonix Regia).

Map showing the BONUS aka Dome reactor, lighthouse, rincon and Centro Puntas

The Dome's Location

The scale of the map can be a bit deceiving, at least at first. 

The gray lines are narrow, pave, one-lane and sometimes one-lane streets.

The former reactor is really only about two city blocks distance from Centro Puntas, and one block from our condo.

Even though the "Dome" had been inactive for nearly a half century, there was still a tiny twinge of uneasiness about living and sleeping within a few hundred yards of a nuclear reactor.

Museo Technologica

Plans were announced in 2001 to convert the inactive nuclear reactor into a technical museum.

There have been several reports on the Internet this year that the new museum was open. 

However, they appear to have been premature.

The locked gate has a sign, "Museo Technologica" (Technical Museum), but it shows no other sign of being open.

Elizabeth standing at the closed gate to the closed nuclear reactor
A street sign for Vista Nuclear

Calle Vista Nuclear

This is a street sign at the top of the hill near the dome advertises its famous and at one time highly controversial reactor..

There are several places to stay, including one fairly popular resort, on Vista Nuclear.

The sign struck me as most unusual. Sarcasm in naming streets is not often seen.