1942 Chicago Pile-1 Nuclear Reactor Graphite Block
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GUEST:
Our neighbor worked with Enrico Fermi during the Manhattan Project. And he was responsible for doing some of the reactor design. And these blocks were used in constructing the first two reactors ever, uh, in the world. When they were decommissioning, he was able to get this block. Subsequently, since I was trained in nuclear science, gave it to me. The original was constructed under the stands at the football field at the University of Chicago.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And after, uh, they had done some of the initial experiments, they took it apart and took it out to a site outside of Chicago.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And then rebuilt it, and did some more experiments, and then designed a completely different system. And then, after several years, abandoned those reactors and moved on to a, a different design.
APPRAISER:
The brick that you have brought today is actually from a reactor that was known as the Chicago Pile-1. On December 2, 1942, the scientists gathered and ran tests. One was successful, and that was at the beginning of the Manhattan Project. Which, less than three years later, as we all know, resulted in the atomic bombs that were dropped in World War II. The reactor was composed of approximately 45,000 of these bricks. It's very high-quality graphite. The reactor was extremely simple because it was the first one.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It was basically a tall cube shape, 57 layers of approximately 45,000 of these bricks. It was in a simple wood frame, and it had absolutely no shielding whatsoever from any kind of radioactive spillover that might have occurred. They had guys with buckets of cadmium salts standing in the room to try and pour over the reactor if things started to go south.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The experiments worked. And they all broke out a bottle of Chianti that somebody had brought...
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
...and drank a toast to their success, and signed the label of the Chianti bottle. Which is the only reason we know who was there, because there are no written records saying what scientists actually participated in this experiment.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
You had mentioned something about having the brick tested for radioactivity?
GUEST:
Right. I had a, an appointment at the University of New Mexico in the radiopharmacy program. And we brought the brick down and put it on a counter over a weekend and detected no, uh, radioactivity whatsoever. So we're safe standing next to it.
APPRAISER:
I'm, I'm very happy to hear that.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
The small pieces which are three inches by three-quarter-inch by three-quarter-inch...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...have sold at auction anywhere between $2,000 and $4,000. There is currently one of them available online retailing for $6,500. You have an entire brick, which is extremely rare, and your brick is 11 by four by four. So at auction, I would say this piece would be worth easily $16,000 to $20,000.
GUEST:
Mm!
APPRAISER:
And given that you have an entire brick, I would go more towards the high end of that estimate. I've never appraised anything like it.
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