'First city in the world to be lit by atomic power'. That's what the sign on the city hall of Arco, Idaho says. The town was named after Georg von Arco, a German physicist who was visiting Washington, D.C., in the early 20th century. The high-desert town was powered by Argonne National Laboratory’s BORAX-III reactor on July 17, 1955, making Arco the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power. However, Arco’s atomic history has some darker elements too. On January 3, 1961, a nuclear reactor was destroyed through an operator maintenance error, causing the deaths of all three personnel present. It was the world's first and the United States' only fatal reactor accident.

Nowadays Arco is not much more than a place to get gas on your way to the Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, or a place to eat a truly fantastic 'Atomic Burger' at Pickle's Place.

Size: 4000 x 4000

About the artist: Sebastiaan Bedaux is a travel photographer and writer from Belgium. His work is published in magazines such as National Geographic Traveler, ELLE Belgium and Marie Claire Belgium. He has published 4 travel books.