Kodak kept nuclear reactor, enriched uranium in basement

The company had 3.5 pounds of weapons-grade uranium in Rochester for more than 30 years

Just across Lake Ontario in Rochester, N.Y., Kodak had kept a small nuclear reactor and weapons-grade uranium for more than 30 years in a basement research facility.

The Democrat and Chronicle, a newspaper in Rochester, reports the company had 3.5 pounds of enriched uranium, but it carried no risk of explosion and never leaked.

"It's such an odd situation because private companies just don't have this material," said Miles Pomper, a senior research associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington, to the Democrat and Chronicle.

The paper learned of the device when an employee just happened to mention it to a reporter.

"It was a known entity, but it was not well-publicized," said Albert Filo, a former Kodak research scientist who worked with the device, to the paper.

Kodak originally got the device, which they closed down six years ago, to see if subatomic particles could be used to create an image without damaging it. Kodak initially used small research reactors, including one at Cornell University, but they wanted a more potent in-house system.

In 1974, the company purchased a californium neutron flux multiplier. The reactor was dismantled in 2007 with the help of the U.S. government and the fuel was taken under high security to a federal facility. Nothing of the dismantling or move could be reported due to concerns of uranium falling into the hands of terrorists following the 9/11 attacks.

Kodak, not known for being a nuclear threat, filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2012.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees 31 research reactors in the U.S. While most of them are at universities, three companies have had licenses for more than 40 years.