On  Wednesday November 4, 2015, our class went to MIT to see their nuclear reactor that is for research uses only. We first was given a small lecture about the history of the Nuclear Reactor. The MIT reactor opened since 1958 and operates 24/7 however it was built in 1948. The reactor was upgraded twice, once in 1975 and once in 2010. It is currently running at 6mw thermal energy and that is barely able to power a light bulb. Which is why this reactor is mostly for students to do research.

Radioactive materials are emitted so they have multiple filters to decrease the radioactivity of the materials emitted. The material Argon 41 is pumped out however it is not marked as dangerous. A product, D20 is an isotope of H20 because of radioactive events. There are alpha particles which can only last for 8-12 inches however they are stopped by the body of a person. The light water will absorb the energy from high electrons which then slow the electrons making a continuous chain effect. The part most sensitive to radiation are our eyes. Beta particles can go through the body however stopped by aluminium. Then there are gamma particle that passes both the body and aluminum however stopped by lead. There is a 10% to 20% lost of power. There are also 6 groups of lifetimes, or what are the half lives of an element. It is Researched that an average miner for coal get more radiation than working on a nuclear reactor. Uranium 235 is the only useful isotope for nuclear reactor and if they get others like 237 or 233 they will have to try to get it closer to 235 and then use it. There are stuff that were experimented and also tested here and maybe even cured some people of stuff. We learned all of this in the lecture.

After the lecture, which I think was a bit boring, we went to actually see the nuclear reactor core and also its control room. There is usually a person there to make sure it is under control, but because this isn’t a major nuclear reactor, shutting down the reactor takes little time. There are automatic system as well. The machines did also get upgraded from paper dials to digital. The Reactor looked a lot smaller from the outside and When we were inside it looked like it was a half a block wide and long. There are air locks to the nuclear reactor core and it is opened only by eye scan. It’s a way to keep it safe. When we were leaving we got tested to see if we were clean of radioactive materials, like dust or strap of something by accident by walking around. Before we went to the Reactor, we were also given this meter that measures the amount of radiation we have absorbed. I checked it every few mins and it does increase once a few but by the time We left the area of the reactor I didn’t take too much.