Meanwhile , the laboratory was also helping to design the reactor for the world 's first nuclear-powered submarine , the U.S.S. '' Nautilus '' , which steamed for more than 513,550 nautical miles ( 951,090 km ) . The next nuclear reactor model was Experimental Boiling Water Reactor , the forerunner of many modern nuclear plants , and Experimental Breeder Reactor II ( EBR-II ) , which was sodium-cooled , and included a fuel recycling facility . EBR-II was later modified to test other reactor designs , including a fast-neutron reactor and , in 1982 , the Integral Fast Reactor concept — a revolutionary design that reprocessed its own fuel , reduced its atomic waste and withstood safety tests of the same failures that triggered the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters . In 1994 , however , the U.S. Congress terminated funding for the bulk of Argonne 's nuclear programs
Three Mile Island
Three Mile Island accident
Argonne National Laboratory