BORAX III Reactor. Mr. Meyer Novick, director of the Idaho Division of Argonne National Laboratory, stands beside the turbine generator of BORAX III. BORAX III was a boiling-water reactor operated by Argonne at its Idaho location. Here, Novick turns the valve to release steam from the BORAX reactor into the turbine, which drives 2,500 kw capacity generator shown at right. On July 17, 1955, Argonne National Laboratory's BORAX III reactor provided all the electricity for Arco, Idaho, the first time any community's electricity was provided entirely by nuclear energy.