1963 - California Water Project Focus Paper

This is a NR-HA focus paper on the California Water Project in 1962.

In the early 1960s, California embarked on an ambitious mission to ensure long-term water security through the California Water Project—a massive state infrastructure initiative aimed at redistributing water from the northern part of the state to the increasingly arid and populous south. One of the major challenges of this system was the Tehachapi lift: the transportation of water over the rugged Tehachapi Mountains, which demanded a constant, reliable source of large-scale electrical power. This energy-intensive need prompted the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to explore innovative energy sources, including nuclear power.

NR led the efforts to build a reactor to power moving water across the mountains. However, technical challenges resulted in Rickover canceling the project. The paper walks through the challenges and events surrounding this project.