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Bruce Perens: The Day I Blundered Into the Nuclear Facility

Posted by samzenpus on from the did-you-remember-to-lock-the-door? dept.

Bruce Perens writes "I found myself alone in a room, in front of a deep square or rectangular pool of impressively clear, still water. There was a pile of material at the bottom of the pool, and a blue glow of Cherenkov radiation in the water around it. To this day, I can't explain how an unsupervised kid could ever have gotten in there."

10 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. So... I read the article. by Nationless · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is that it?

    1. Re:So... I read the article. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      TL;DR

    2. Re:So... I read the article. by quenda · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess cancer is kind of like a super power.

      or so Lance Armstrong would like us to believe.

    3. Re:So... I read the article. by rioki · · Score: 5, Informative

      This was a scientific test reactor... The security is at the gate and they passed that. The actual room is totally safe. The "old" neutron test reactor of the TH-Munich could be visited. If you fell into the water you would need treatment; for desalination. That is they would rub you down with lotion, because the distilled water would remove the salts in your outer skin. Now the "new" one on the other hand can't be seen, but not because of radiation, but because it is a high pressure reactor. OMG I saw a nuclear reactor...

    4. Re:So... I read the article. by rmstar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Does Pac-Man have a waist?

      In the same way most americans have one (sorry, couldn't resist).

  2. BMRR? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    BNL had three research reactors.

    Not sure whether BMRR or HFBR were water-moderated, but I'd bet it was the Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor. A bunch of beautiful glowing stuff at the bottom of a deep pool of water is a common configuration for a research reactor used for the production of medical isotopes.

  3. The 60s and 70s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think Bruce might be looking at the past through the lens of today. In the 60s, nuclear plants and labs had a couple of security guards to protect from theft and whatnot. They didn't carry guns. Unless there were secret things going on, these places weren't heavily guarded. Nuclear power wasn't considered a security issue. Nor were airports, train stations, etc.

    1. Re:The 60s and 70s by ceoyoyo · · Score: 5, Informative

      Lots of universities had research reactors (a few still do). They had no more security than some bored grad students working in the outer lab. If it was an open house even they would have been too busy to look after every wandering kid.

    2. Re:The 60s and 70s by hawguy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Lots of universities had research reactors (a few still do). They had no more security than some bored grad students working in the outer lab. If it was an open house even they would have been too busy to look after every wandering kid.

      When I was in high school we did a tour of university's research reactor, and like you said, the only people there were a few grad students and an operator (or maybe he was a professor?) - no armed guards, no fancy security systems, we just had to sign in with the student at the front desk. We weren't allowed in the room that had the reactor pool,but we could see it (and the blue Cherenkov Radiation glow) through a large thick glassed window. They said that the water was sufficient to contain the radiation but they didn't want many people in the reactor room since any contaminants in the water could become radioactive.

      We were standing in the room that had the door to the reactor room, so I don't think it would have been hard for a kid to accidentally gain access to the reactor room if someone inadvertently left the door open or didn't pull it closed after they left the room.

      But at the time, the coolest thing in the building was the remote manipulator arms they used for working with radioactive materials. After playing with those arms, I decided I was going to have a career in nuclear science. Though somehow I ended up in IT instead.

  4. Re:Oak Ridge used to hand out "hot" dimes by dltaylor · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Pictures, or it didn't happen":

    http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/medalsmementoes/dimes.htm