Standing at the edge of a 72,000 gallon pool of water, a blue glow is the first thing noticeable when observing nuclear fission at the University's Breazeale Nuclear Reactor, located on campus.
Soon bubbles begin to flutter at the base of the reactor -- but the water is not boiling. Rather the hydrogen and oxygen, elements that make up water, have begun to separate as a result of the fission.
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The operation is totally safe, however, and there is no danger to observers, said facilities and support supervisor Kenneth Rudy.
"The reactor produces no power at all," he said. "The main purpose of the reactor is for education and research."
In using the reactor, up to one megawatt of power can be generated in conducting experiments, Rudy said.
Karl Abraham, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman, said the power generated by research reactors is generally low when compared to larger commercial power reactors.
The Three Mile Island facility in Middletown produces 2,568 megawatts, while the Limerick facility in Montgomery County produces 3,293 megawatts, Abraham said.
This year, the Breazeale reactor celebrates its 35th anniversary, Rudy said. Having started operation in 1955, the reactor is the nation's oldest research reactor and the only one of its kind in Pennsylvania. The closest research reactor is at the Ohio State University in Athens, Ohio.
Penn State's reactor is set up to be used as a training and research tool. Early classes and research were conducted through the mechanical engineering department because nuclear engineering classes had not yet been started. The reactor was first operated only by physicists, such as the reactor's designer, William Breazeale, or engineers. Today, only NRC-licensed scientists may operate the reactor.
On February 12, 1955, the day of its dedication, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Admiral Lewis Strauss, spoke at the University on the reactor's importance in research.
On that day Strauss said he hoped "that the reactor will become instrumental in the good use of nature making contact with the mind of man."
The dedication was also part of the celebration of the University's then 100th birthday.
Months later, the reactor was completed at an approximate cost of $310,000.
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Today, upon entering the Breazeale reactor building, the sound of a Geiger counter clicking off radiation in a random, drum-like pattern is immediately noticeable. The clicks soon fade into the background but every now and there is a slight jump in their regularity.
In the main reactor area, precautions are taken to ensure that safety is maintained. Air monitors occupy both sides of the pool the reactor sits in to monitor any harmful radioactive emissions. The water contained in the pool itself is demineralized and continually circulated so that it will not become radioactive.
Reactor director and assistant professor of nuclear engineering Marcus Voth said the Breazeale reactor actually houses two reactors: the neutron reactor and the cobalt reactor.
The neutron reactor is used to make objects or devices radioactive. One function the neutron reactor serves is to perform research in what is known as neutron activation analysis, Rudy said. The process makes the material in question radioactive by exposing it to radiation in the reactor. Scientists may then identify the elements that make up the material by studying the radiation given off.
"The reactor can serve to answer questions in history," Voth said, citing a recent experiment in which an anthropologist had pottery specimens analyzed to find their source materials. Through the identification of these materials, tribal trade routes can be learned because of the relationship between where the materials were mined and where the pottery was found, he said.
Neutron activation analysis is also used to look for contamination in water supplies, find contaminants in manufactured products and find trace fallout, Rudy said.
Another use of the reactor is for neutron radiography, Voth said. In this, a beam of neutrons is passed through an object or device and a photograph is taken of the neutrons that are neither scattered or absorbed.
An example of this is a project currently being done through a Chrysler Corporation grant to monitor hydraulic flow through a car's torc converter, Voth said.
The cobalt reactor, built in 1965, gives off radiation but does not make things radioactive, Voth said. Like the neutron reactor, the cobalt reactor sits in a pool of water.
Describing the cobalt reactor, Voth said, "It's like a microwave oven that has a lot of energy."
At the cobalt reactor service irradiation is performed. In this area, experiments are done to see how materials react when they are subjected to radiation.
"We're working to get resistant materials 'rad-hardened,' " he said. "This means to a degree where radiation will not badly affect them."
Robert Gould (graduate-nuclear engineering) gave another example. In a recent experiment, transistors were subjected to radiation from the reactor to test their resistance. This experiment has potential applications in predicting how well the transistors will perform in space, where radiation exists at higher levels than on Earth.
The reactor also houses the Low-level Radiation Monitoring Laboratory, where environmental monitoring takes place, Voth said. The lab is designed to monitor low levels of radioactivity such as stream water, natural radon emissions and nuclear power plants.
A researcher interested in the Chernobyl accident is studying bees and cheese from the area to see the effects of fission, Voth said.
The reactor, he said, also maintains a radionuclide supply service that makes isotopes for University labs as well as tracer chemicals for studies.
The reactor is supported, Voth said, through four revenue sources -- University funding, user fees from corporations, solicited funding and government aid.
The present fuel of the reactor consists of 20 percent enriched uranium 235, Rudy said. Before 1965 the fuel used more than 90 percent enriched uranium 235, but this was changed because the enriched uranium can be used to make bombs and it would need stricter security than the University could provide. The present fuel's uranium content is too low to be used for bombs.
The safety risks for research reactors are relatively low, NRC spokesman Karl Abraham said.
For radiation exposure, reactor operators receive less than one-tenth of one percent what they would receive from the environment, he said. The public (students and University faculty) receives essentially no radiation.
Although Abraham said he did not know of any accident involving a research reactor, he acknowledged that it could happen and that there are no absolutes. In 1986 the reactor renewed its license to continue operation as part of NRC routine procedures. After approximately a year of investigation by the NRC, which looked for such things as public health hazards, operating procedures and safety precautions the license was renewed until 2006.
