The reactor facility that was built at Columbia University but never used

A large and heavy experimental plasma vessel is located on the second floor of the Engineering Building at Columbia University. It sits atop the concrete shell of the old nuclear reactor facility. The reactor facility was built many years ago but no nuclear fuel was ever loaded into it. It was designed to contain a 250 kW reactor core. However, due to certain circumstances, it was never fueled or operated. This paper describes the events leading to the decision to not put the reactor into operation.