Having the opportunity to tour MIT’s nuclear reactor was a great experience because i’ve never seen a nuclear reactor in person before! Before this class I had no idea that MIT had a nuclear reactor at all and used it for medical research. The tour was a great way to apply what I had learned in class about how nuclear reactors work and how they produce energy. The reactor its self was very interesting; like I said, I’ve never seen a nuclear reactor before so it is easier for me to understand how the reactor works now that i’ve seen one in person. When I initially found out that we were touring the MIT reactor, my first thought was that MIT used it for energy use. I soon learned that this was not the case – it is used strictly for research. I never knew that a nuclear reactor could be used for medical research. I also never knew how dangerous radiation was either. I knew it isn’t a good thing but after the tour I really understood how dangerous it was. The precautions the staff went through to make sure our group and the staff had no radioactive exposure were very serious. This is something I would have never known unless I toured a reactor like we did.

The tour guide was very informative and definitely knew what he was talking about. He explained everything in-depth and answered all of our questions. Although I am not a science major, it was very easy for me to understand what he was talking about and had it very clear what kind of research was performed at the MIT reactor.

Over all, I think this was a great experience. If it weren’t for this class, I don’t think I would have ever toured a nuclear reactor in my life. It’s interesting to be able to know how research for diseases and cancers are performed and where they are performed. Whenever I thought of medical research I would always just think it was performed in a hospital or a lab – not a nuclear reactor. This experienced opened my eyes to  new information that I would not have obtained from a lecture or a book. I’m glad I had this opportunity, and I took away a lot of information from the tour.