The Oregon State University Radiation Center (OSURC) is a research facility that houses a
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...
at
Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...
(OSU) in
Corvallis, Oregon,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. The Oregon State
TRIGA
TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) is a class of nuclear research reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics. The design team for TRIGA, which included Edward Teller, was led by the physicist Freeman Dyson.
Design
...
Reactor (OSTR) serves the research needs of the OSU
nuclear engineering department along with other departments (notably medical applications).
About 70% of the research projects at the OSU Radiation Center use the reactor.
Reactor overview
The radiation center is located on the west side of the OSU campus, across the street from the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offices and about half a mile from
Reser Stadium.
[ABC News: Oregon State University](_blank)
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The reactor is a Mark II TRIGA
TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) is a class of nuclear research reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics. The design team for TRIGA, which included Edward Teller, was led by the physicist Freeman Dyson.
Design
...
reactor with a maximum thermal output of 1.1 MW and can be pulsed up to a power of 3000 MW for a very short time.[
The reactor supported 96 academic courses in 1999. These courses were in chemistry, ]civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...
, chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
, geosciences, oceanography and atmospheric sciences, bioresource engineering, honors college and naval engineering disciplines.[
The OSU Radiation center supported 126 projects in 2000 with 69% directly involving use of the OSTR.][ Contracts supporting these projects in 2000 totaled $3 million.][
The mission statement of the center is
]
To serve as the campus wide teaching, research, and service facility for programs involving the use of ionizing radiation and radioactive materials.
Thermal column
The thermal column is a large graphite slab that pierces the concrete bioshield of the reactor and makes contact with the graphite neutron reflector surrounding the core. The purpose of the thermal column is to create an irradiation facility that filters out high energy neutrons to create a high thermal neutron flux. The thermal column is primarily used for fission tracking of certain minerals that contain fissile
In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction. By definition, fissile material can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of thermal energy. The predominant neutron energy may be t ...
material.
In-Core Irradiation Facilities
OSTR has six in-core irradiation facilities:
The Cadmium-Lined In-Core Irradiation Tube (or CLICIT) is a vacuum-filled irradiation facility occupying a fuel slot in the central area of the core. Cadmium is a thermal neutron absorber, allowing only epithermal neutron
The neutron detection temperature, also called the neutron energy, indicates a free neutron's kinetic energy, usually given in electron volts. The term ''temperature'' is used, since hot, thermal and cold neutrons are moderated in a medium wi ...
s and fast neutrons
The neutron detection temperature, also called the neutron energy, indicates a free neutron's kinetic energy, usually given in electron volts. The term ''temperature'' is used, since hot, thermal and cold neutrons are moderated in a medium with ...
to enter. The primary purpose of this facility is Ar-Ar dating and K-Ar dating via neutron activation.
The Cadmium-Lined Outer-Core Irradiation Tube (or CLOCIT) is a vacuum-filled irradiation facility occupying a fuel slot in one of the outer rings of the core. Its purpose is similar to the CLICIT, however due to its location, irradiations take 1.8 times longer than the CLICIT.
The In-Core Irradiation Tube (or ICIT) is located in the same ring as the CLOCIT and is the highest neutron flux
The neutron flux, φ, is a scalar quantity used in nuclear physics and nuclear reactor physics. It is the total length travelled by all free neutrons per unit time and volume. Equivalently, it can be defined as the number of neutrons travellin ...
facility offered at OSTR. It is similar to the CLICIT and CLOCIT but it lacks Cadmium lining, resulting in unfiltered neutron irradiation.
The Rotating Rack, colloquially known as the Lazy Susan
A Lazy Susan is a turntable (rotating tray) placed on a table or countertop to aid in distributing food. Lazy Susans may be made from a variety of materials but are usually glass, wood, or plastic. They are circular and placed in the centre o ...
, is a ring surrounding the core between the core and the graphite neutron reflector. It rotates around the core about once a minute, providing an even flux to the samples inside. This facility has 40 nitrogen-filled slots for samples to be irradiated in.
The Pneumatic Transfer System, colloquially known as the Rabbit, is an irradiation facility that is pneumatically operated to rapidly insert and remove samples during operation. The primary purpose of this facility is perform neutron activation analysis on isotopes with short half-lives.
The Central Thimble is a water-filled tube extending down the central position of the core. Its purpose is to provide the highest flux available in the core; however, it is currently not in use at OSTR.
Safety
Oregon Department of Energy The Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) was established in 1975 by the Oregon Legislative Assembly as the culmination of recommendations of several task forces and study groups over several years. The state agency helps Oregonians make informed decis ...
has coordinated the HAZMAT
Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...
Radiological Training Courses at the center for HAZMAT response teams throughout the state of Oregon for the last 15 years.[
Further, instead of only having a Public Safety force on campus and/or local Police, OSU's primary security force are Oregon State Police.
]
Forensic analysis
The reactor has also used Neutron activation analysis to help with the forensic
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal p ...
analysis in a high-profile serial killer case (the I-5 Bandit) and several other cases.4-07-98 TV detective series to dust off old technology
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Research
The following are some ongoing projects in conjunction with the reactor:
* Neutron activation analysis
* Radiotracer
A radioactive tracer, radiotracer, or radioactive label is a chemical compound in which one or more atoms have been replaced by a radionuclide so by virtue of its radioactive decay it can be used to explore the mechanism of chemical reactions by tr ...
techniques
* Medical isotope development and production
* Geological age dating
* Neutron radiography
* Thermal hydraulics of nuclear steam systems
* Radiation sterilization
* Radiation dosimeter testing
* Boron Neutron Capture Therapy
* Radiochemical methodologies
References
External links
OSU Radiation Center
(official site)
OSU Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health PhysicsABC's Radioactive Roadtrip Security Review
{{authority control
Oregon State University buildings
Nuclear reactors
Nuclear research reactors