Last week our class took a trip to a nuclear reactor at MIT.
Because phones were not allowed into the actual reactor the only picture I could get was from the outside.
Before actually entering the reactor the woman in the reception area checked our IDs and gave us a monitor to attach to our clothing. The monitor told us how much radiation we were exposed to.
After getting all checked in we listened to a lecture from an MIT professor. We learned that the reactor was constructed in 1958 and then reconstructed in 1975. The reactor operates 24/7 at 6MW thermal power with a 65% capacity.
In order to keep from over heating there is a two loop cooling system. If something happens to the cooling system then the water in the generator would begin to boil and evaporate which causes air to shoot up.
Also the reactor needs a way to release hydrogen build up if it doesn’t it the hydrogen can act as a catalyst and disrupt the operations of the reactor.
The machine itself is 36 inches wide and 2 feet tall. One benefit of this reactor is that it does it produce greenhouse gases. Uranium-235 fusel the reactor. This reactor is strictly for experiments and generating electricity for the heating at MIT. The trip made me realize how important it is that we actually start looking into nuclear power.
