Did you know that there is just one – and only one – nuclear reactor in Indiana? And did you know it’s literally just chilling in a basement somewhere, with most Hoosiers blissfully unaware of its presence? Okay, maybe it’s not exactly in, say, your neighbor’s basement, but it is in a basement: it resides at Purdue University, beneath the electrical engineering building, and it serves as an invaluable educational tool.

The reactor, named Purdue University Reactor 1, or just PUR-1 to its friends, lurks at the bottom of its very own pool and has been around since the early 1960s.
Denis Collette/Flickr
It achieved criticality for the first time in August 1962. It doesn't generate electricity; instead, it is licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to produce up to a single kilowatt of thermal energy, which is about enough to power a blow dryer.
PUR-1 is the only nuclear reactor that's ever called Indiana home.
Colleen Hepner/Flickr
It serves as an amazing educational tool for Purdue University students, and many others, as they occasionally do tours for mostly student groups throughout the school year.
It works by adding neutrons to unstable and radioactive uranium nuclei.
Purdue Engineering
The nuclei then break into pieces and release energy in a way that can be observed, studied, and recorded by students.

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PUR-1 lives at the bottom of a 17-foot-deep, eight-foot-wide pool.
Purdue Engineering
It isn't a swimming pool you'd want to take a dive into, though. The water is imperative to the students' work (and safety) - it acts as a shield from radiation effectively enough that they can work and study above PUR-1 safely.
Purdue seems unassuming enough, with its old-style architecture and scholarly feel, and people tend to not even realize that it harbors such a powerful, incredible accomplishment of man in its literal basement.
David Ellis/Flickr
No worries, though - relatively, the reactor is tiny, measuring up at just one foot wide by one foot long by two feet tall. There's no chance that it'll be going Chernobyl on us anytime soon, so that's a relief.
Anywhere from 1,600 to 1,800 guests tour the facility per year.
Dwayne Rider/Wikimedia
If you're interested in visiting PUR-1 and seeing how it works first-hand, fill out an interest form on Purdue's official website.
PUR-1 and its team hope to educate the populace on nuclear energy, and other sources of clean, renewable power.
Greg Derylo/Flickr
They are constantly caring for the reactor and keeping it in tip-top shape.

So, what do you think? Are you interested in touring the one and only nuclear reactor in all of Indiana? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

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