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Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
Atom Buster at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Forest Hills, Allegheny County. The Westinghouse Atom Smasher was a 5 million volt Van de Graaff electrostatic nuclear accelerator operated by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation at their Research Laboratories in the borough of Forest Hills. It was instrumental in the development in practical applications of nuclear science for energy production. In particular, it was used in 1940 to discover the photofission of uranium and thorium, and was most cited for certain nuclear physics measurements. The Westinghouse Atom Smasher was intended to make measurements of nuclear reactions for research in nuclear power. It was the first industrial Van de Graaff generator in the world, and marked the beginning of nuclear research for civilian applications. Built in 1937, it was a 65-foot-tall pear-shaped tower. It was essentially unused after World War II, and the main structure was laid on its side in 2015. In 1985, it was named an Electrical Engineering Milestone by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics.
(Photo from https://www.post-gazette.com/)
Lawrence Mohan: When was that taken, my dad worked at Westinghouse Research in Churchill from the 1950,s thru the 80,s I thought that was the only Research 😳.
John Farren: I grew up in East Pittsburgh, and every time we drove Rt. 30 going to (or past) Forest Hills, we would see the atom smashers on top of the hill. It was on one side of the highway and Vincent's Pizza was on the other. I hope the developer who tore it down isn't suffering from radiation sickness. It was AN ATOM smasher, after all. |
Note that the date on the street view above is 2011. This is what is left.
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Jim Roepke posted
In Forest Hills, PA. This 65-foot-tall, pear-shaped structure sat on top of a building and was used for civilian nuclear research. The reactor was decommissioned in 1958 and its supporting brick buildings were demolished in 2015. What remains is the massive steel bulb lying on its side.
Mark V Shock: They also had a mini reactor onsite!! I saw it several times while working on the property Back in 99-2000. I knew exactly what it was and when I asked the guy that was our escort I said that’s a nuclear reactor and the dude got stone faced and was like how do you know that and I told him and he says yeah we don’t really discuss it with anybody…. |
It appears that today's route for US-30 may have been the original
Lincoln Highway route in this area. The next oldest topo map available is 1907, and there was nothing around here back then.
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| 1953/55 Braddock Quad @ 24,000 |
City Life Adventures by Carla Cardello
posted nine photos with the comment:
Photos taken on 8/1/26 of Pittsburgh’s atom smasher in Forest Hills being prepped for preservation! Scaffolding was set up last week so the crew can dismantle and relocate it to the Westinghouse facility in Cranberry where it’ll be preserved for years to come.
For those of you who want to stop by for last minute photos, the gate has been locked up with no trespassing signs. You can walk around the perimeter or fly a drone like me (when they aren’t actively working, of course).
This is a big deal because it was the world’s first industrial Van de Graaff generator used for nuclear research. The building was demolished in 2015 but the neglected smasher sat there abandoned until now. No, it is not a water tower.
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JB Byers commented on the above post
Here is a little diagram to explain how it worked. |
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