CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

GLEEP

British experimental nuclear reactor

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 15, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

GLEEP, which stood for Graphite Low Energy Experimental Pile, was a long-lived experimental nuclear reactor in Oxfordshire, England. Reaching criticality for the first time on 15 August 1947, it was the first reactor to operate in western Europe, and the second in Eurasia, beat only by the F-1 in the USSR.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “GLEEP” as british experimental nuclear reactor. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around GLEEP, British and experimental.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1947—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with GLEEP, British and experimental providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “GLEEP”, the useful work is to connect “british experimental nuclear reactor” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1947.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “GLEEP”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow GLEEP primary sources, GLEEP archive and GLEEP research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “GLEEP”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “GLEEP” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.