The MIT Nuclear Reactor

At first i was extremely hesitant to go to the reactor because of the radiation that comes off of it, i am extremely aware of things like that, like having my phone in my pocket for too long and standing next to the microwave when its on, etc. I didn’t even tell my father i went on this field trip because he would have convinced me not to go. Over all i felt very uncomfortable the entire time.

It’s convenient that i am also a communication major along with my theatre major because we just learned about how there are interruptions that come up subconsciously when we listen that allow us to tune out the things that we don’t understand or that don’t interest us, for instance i had NO idea what our tour guide was talking about when he got into specifics like the kind of “heavy” water used for the cooling system and what parts of the reactor do because i did not understand more than half of the words he was using, however i am a very hands on person so once we got into the reactor and he pointed to things and described them using daily things that i could relate to, i understood most of what he said. The Reactor itself was kind of a disappointing reveal because you couldn’t see anything besides a tank. However the number of buttons and and tools used to control and help stabilize the reactor itself was really neat to see.

It was also interesting to see students working on it because things like this are extremely interesting to them. They were doing an experiment on the reactor and i found that really cool to be able to be an undergrad and to work near and on such a dangerous and important part of the environment and energy in the world right now.

this picture is a picture of all of the buttons and gadgets i was talking about above (a very blurry picture). It’s amazing that it is so open and anyone can just push any button. I found it interesting that so many things on the wall were fluctuating the numbers because it showed that things in the reactor are always changing, they are never constant. This also means that things could change drastically very fast, so it needs to be constantly watched in order to keep order and safety within the plant and for the safety of the workers.

I cannot imagine working in an environment like that either, i mean if the nuclear reactors explodes, you are the first one who dies. its an extremely dangerous job. I admire those who work directly with the reactor and the contamination that comes with it and the possible sickness and potential death that could come with it.