Did you know that 24 U.S. Universities run nuclear reactors?

[Kablooie]

Something I didn't know until I talked with a colleague who used to work on one.
She said they only had the budget for minimal radiation protection, simple tags that indicate when they had received enough radiation for one day.

According to Wikipedia each of these Universities have a nuclear reactor:

Idaho State University
Kansas State University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Missouri University of Science and Technology
North Carolina State University
Ohio State University
Oregon State University
Penn State University
Purdue University
Reed College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Texas A&M University
University of Arizona
University of California-Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of Florida
University of Maryland
University of Massachusetts Lowell
University of Missouri Columbia
University of New Mexico
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Washington State University

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_reactors

[meegbear]

1. When I was your age, my first computer class was in one of those reactor building ...

University of Massachusetts Lowell - it was The University of Lowell back then. Felt weird going into that building, but that's where they put us.

[sharp_stick]

2. The budget for simple radiation protection

was this back in the 40's or what?

You can't run a research or any other kind of reactor without oversight by the NRC including minimal safety standards. Tags are radiation detectors not safety devices and the one time use tags described above haven't been around for years in this country.

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/research-reactors-bg.html

[Blue_Tires]

3. Probably lot more than that

Wiki forgot the one at URI I visited a few years ago: http://www.rinsc.ri.gov/

[bananas]

4. They used to have large cyclotrons underground below the campus, too.

Most of those reactors have very little in common with power reactors.

[kestrel91316]

5. Do you know that the radioisotopes used every day in hospitals and

diagnostic imaging facilities around the world are produced, OF NECESSITY, in nuclear reactors?

They are out there. And some of them are vital. But they are nothing to base our energy grid upon.

They should be few, and used for tasks that nothing else can be used for.

[hunter]

6. Maybe we should export nuclear research to China or India...

:sarcasm:

[KamaAina]

7. Stanford has a linear accelerator

right near Interstate 280.

[Brother Buzz]

9. NEAR?

280 crosses directly over the linear accelerator

[NNN0LHI]

8. The one at University of Arizona is currently in the process of being shut down

It is small. Generated enough electricity to power about a hundred hair dryers.

Don

[EnviroBat]

10. I went on a tour of OSU's small reactor when I first started working here.

Yes, it was as creepy as I had imagined it would be. They shut down the lights and everything in the pool glows an eerie blue color. At one time they actually buried the spent fuel in barrels behind the reactor building. Frightening how little they understood about the dangers of radioactive materials back in the day.