Our tour of the nuclear reactor started as we went through a long process of checking in, we all had to have our government issued id’s and they asked us if we had ever taken nuclear medicine. we where not aloud to bring gum, cell phones or anything in. we where given a small Geiger counter which the levels where measured before and after be went on the tour to make sure our radiation exposure was minimum. our tour guide, a younger guy really relatable and easy to understand, also wore a detector that would beep like a traditional Geiger counter if radiation levels got too high. And this was all before we even stepped through the door!
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We then worked our way into a chamber that separated the outside of the reactors dome to the inside one of only two ways to get inside the dome. It dropped in pressure slightly and we all packed in the small chamber like sardines. Some of us felt like we where lifting off in a rocket, this experience seemed surreal for some reason, like something you’d see in the movies. The reactor itself was not critical (active) at the time because of repair. Our guide said that they usually have the reactor active for three month intervals to do experiments then shut it down for updates and repair. The MIT reactor is not used to power our city, it does not produce enough energy to do so. Instead they use it strictly for educational purposes. Surprisingly we learned that they do a lot with hospitals eradiating samples for them and that’s mainly how the financially support the reactor. It was easy to tell the facilities where built a long time ago, I was surprised to find that such a efficient type of power was not stream lined and modern looking. We where shown many interesting aspects within the dome of the reactor. the control room was interesting and two people where watching a series of monitors at all times. It was interesting to see all the ways they handle the nuclear material and how the fission process can be used for more than just making electricity.
The most interesting part of the tour for me was when he was explaining how they had an experiment that used a radioactivity to kill cancer cells like melanoma off the skin. My mom works at a skin cancer surgery center so I know enough about the process of having skin cancer removed and what he was explaining seemed like an interesting and plausible way to kill skin cancer cells, like freezing off a wart. Unfortunately this process would be incredibly expensive and would probably never be implemented. Our tour guide also said that MIT had great success with this experiment but other test facilities did not.
Upon leaving everyone (except for me) stepped on to another radiation detector and stuck their hands inside as well to make sure nothing we walked on or touched had radiation levels. my shoes couldn’t go on the machine so I had to be “frisked” our tour guide waved a hand held detector over my hands and feet. Then we all had to wave our hands and feet over yet another detector before leaving. They sure are cautious at MIT!
Overall it was really cool and interesting to actually be able to go inside the dome of a nuclear reactor. I learned a great deal because our tour guide was so good at explaining what I assume are simple things to him. Without having taken this class I would have never had the opportunity to go on a tour like this and learn so much. despite me being an art student this ALMOST made science look cool.