When visiting the MIT Nuclear Reactor laboratory on Friday November 6th we got a tour of the lab and also a lecture from one of the scientists. The presenter focused on speaking about the main differences that the MIT Nuclear Reactor and a reactor that is working to create energy for electricity have. Another main focus of his presentation was the fact that the first priority for this laboratory is safety. According to the presenter, this nuclear reactor exists for the sole purpose of research for both scientific and medical research.
The core of the nuclear reactor at MIT is made up of 27 positions most of which are always filled with fuel. Two to four of these spaces are typically holding an in-core experiment or filled with solid aluminum. There are six blades positioned outside on the core that are there to stop the reactor in less than half a second if there ever is need to. These six blades are connected to a magnet that will automatically drop them. The presenter mentioned that they do regular maintinance on these blades and switch them out often, but incidents have occurred where the machine has shut down because one of the blades fell due to material damage. 
The nuclear reactor
The nuclear reactor is kept very protected through concrete walls. There is also a water system that cools down the reactor. The heat that is created from the reactor is released as pure water vapor and nothing more. There was constant monitoring of the nuclear reactor. A control room was also present, with a lot of technology to monitor every part of the core, the blades, and all parts of the lab . Someone was present at this control room 24/7 making sure none of the numbers being monitored changed in a way that would be harmful. There were monitors to measure radiation at every part of the lab and every person that went into the lab was required to keep a monitor on them to measure how much radiation they are exposed to. There was a crank in the lab that was able to grab any experiment and move it to any part of the building. For example, it could grab one of the experiments that was in the in-core and put it in a machine that had a special glass for a scientist to look through it to evaluate the outcome. This way the scientist would not be exposed to the radiation they otherwise would have been exposed to.
The control room
Overall, this was a very informative trip. It was interesting to see all of the intense work put into the lab and all of the safety precautions that the crew had to obey. It is a good facility to exist because it allows people in our area to have the opportunity to test their experiments in the reactor..
I thought you did a really great job explaining how the core worked as well as the rest of the reactor! This was a very thorough blog post.
It was interesting to read your insight on the lab tour considering I was unable to attend it. Great use of detail and explanation!