#beautiful things

On this day in 1955 BORAX-III, an experimental reactor in the US, became the first reactor to power a city (Arco) solely with nuclear energy.

Cap Spartel lighthouse, Morocco.

The BN-600 and BN-800, successors to the design, are still in operation today. Likewise the Chinese CFR-600 reactors are heavily influenced by the design.

Impalement

The above are images of cold molded wooden boats. Cold molding is a process wherein wood is bent and glued into place at room temperature, adopted from airplane design after WWII. The resulting boat is a monocoque, with a self-supporting skin that apparently has better strength to weight performance than fiberglass (and much, much better fatigue resistance). It also avoids the problems of traditional wooden construction (such as constant leaks and rotting boards). But unfortunately it (like other wood boats) is more labor intensive than fiberglass.

2000 Lei Romanian banknote celebrating a solar eclipse in 1999.

The Tu-144, the first supersonic passenger jet. It entered passenger service in 1977 and was withdrawn from service in seven months after a crash of a test article. After that it never flew with passengers again.

Gatteville Lighthouse