PM-3A nuclear reactor
E568399
The PM-3A nuclear reactor was a small U.S. Navy-built nuclear power plant that supplied electricity and heat to McMurdo Station in Antarctica during the 1960s and early 1970s.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| PM-3A nuclear reactor canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6093967 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: PM-3A nuclear reactor Context triple: [McMurdo Station, previousPowerSource, PM-3A nuclear reactor]
-
A.
S2W nuclear reactor
The S2W nuclear reactor was an early U.S. Navy pressurized water reactor design that powered the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus.
-
B.
K-West Reactor
K-West Reactor is one of the plutonium production reactors at the Hanford Site in Washington State, historically used to support the U.S. nuclear weapons program.
-
C.
TRIGA research reactor
The TRIGA research reactor is a small, inherently safe nuclear reactor design widely used in universities and research institutions for education, training, and scientific experiments.
-
D.
X-10 graphite reactor
The X-10 graphite reactor was an early nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, built during the Manhattan Project as a pilot plant for plutonium production and a key step toward the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.
-
E.
K15 pressurized water reactor
The K15 pressurized water reactor is a French naval nuclear reactor design used to power modern French aircraft carriers and submarines.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: PM-3A nuclear reactor Target entity description: The PM-3A nuclear reactor was a small U.S. Navy-built nuclear power plant that supplied electricity and heat to McMurdo Station in Antarctica during the 1960s and early 1970s.
-
A.
S2W nuclear reactor
The S2W nuclear reactor was an early U.S. Navy pressurized water reactor design that powered the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus.
-
B.
K-West Reactor
K-West Reactor is one of the plutonium production reactors at the Hanford Site in Washington State, historically used to support the U.S. nuclear weapons program.
-
C.
TRIGA research reactor
The TRIGA research reactor is a small, inherently safe nuclear reactor design widely used in universities and research institutions for education, training, and scientific experiments.
-
D.
X-10 graphite reactor
The X-10 graphite reactor was an early nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, built during the Manhattan Project as a pilot plant for plutonium production and a key step toward the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.
-
E.
K15 pressurized water reactor
The K15 pressurized water reactor is a French naval nuclear reactor design used to power modern French aircraft carriers and submarines.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
military nuclear reactor
ⓘ
nuclear reactor ⓘ pressurized water reactor ⓘ small modular reactor ⓘ |
| associatedWithTreaty | Antarctic Treaty System ⓘ |
| commissioningDate | 1962 ⓘ |
| constructionStartDate | 1960 ⓘ |
| coolant | light water ⓘ |
| coolingCircuit | closed-loop pressurized water ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| decommissioningActivity | removal of reactor plant and contaminated soil ⓘ |
| decommissioningDate | 1972 ⓘ |
| designationMeaning | Portable, Medium-power, 3rd design, Antarctica ⓘ |
| designedBy | Martin Company ⓘ |
| designedFor | remote polar installation ⓘ |
| designPressureVesselMaterial | steel ⓘ |
| electricalOutput | 1200 kWe ⓘ |
| firstCriticalityDate | 1962-03-04 ⓘ |
| fuelEnrichment | 93% U-235 ⓘ |
| fuelType | highly enriched uranium ⓘ |
| gridConnection | McMurdo Station internal grid ⓘ |
| heatSupply | space heating for McMurdo Station buildings ⓘ |
| legacy | influenced later small modular reactor concepts ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
Antarctica
ⓘ
Ross Island ⓘ |
| location | McMurdo Station ⓘ |
| moderator | light water ⓘ |
| notableFeature |
first U.S. Navy nuclear power plant in Antarctica
ⓘ
first nuclear power plant in Antarctica ⓘ |
| operationalPeriod | 1962–1972 ⓘ |
| operator |
U.S. Naval Nuclear Power Unit
ⓘ
United States Navy ⓘ |
| primaryUser | McMurdo Station ⓘ |
| program | U.S. Army Nuclear Power Program ⓘ |
| purpose |
district heating
ⓘ
electric power generation ⓘ steam production ⓘ |
| radioactiveWasteDestination |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| reactorCoreType | integral pressure vessel core ⓘ |
| reactorType | pressurized water reactor ⓘ |
| reasonForShutdown |
economic considerations
ⓘ
technical problems and safety concerns ⓘ |
| replaced | diesel generators at McMurdo Station ⓘ |
| replacedBy |
diesel generators at McMurdo Station
ⓘ
linked to:
McMurdo Station
|
| safetyIssues |
primary system leaks
ⓘ
repeated fuel element failures ⓘ |
| shutdownDate | 1972-09 ⓘ |
| steamUse | water desalination at McMurdo Station ⓘ |
| thermalPower | 1800 kWth ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: PM-3A nuclear reactor Description of subject: The PM-3A nuclear reactor was a small U.S. Navy-built nuclear power plant that supplied electricity and heat to McMurdo Station in Antarctica during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.