Don't expect to be greeted by armed guards and Agent 007 while touring Breazeale Nuclear Reactor, located on Bigler Road.

While the facility is more sensitive to security following the Sept. 11 attacks, the reactor's director C. Frederick Sears stressed that he did not want to exclude anyone from learning about nuclear technology.

"Our business is education," Sears said.

The research reactor buzzed with activity Thursday afternoon as a freshman seminar toured the facility; students monitored the reactor core and staff checked on materials being irradiated.

"There's a lot of uses for nuclear technology besides power," said Chanda Decker, (sophomore-nuclear engineering), who is training for a reactor operator's license at Breazeale. The reactor is constantly in use, she said.

About 38 undergraduates and 19 graduate students study nuclear engineering at the facility, as well as several doctoral candidates. In addition to Penn State students, the reactor offers tours and services to the community and industry.

Elementary and high school science classes have the opportunity to learn about radiation and the peaceful use of nuclear technology, Sears said, while demonstrating how heat affected salt irradiated by cobalt 260 using a frying pan and burner. Sears noted that the gamma rays used to irradiate materials in the cobalt facility don't make them radioactive.

The reactor's cobalt facility receives requests for a variety of radiation services. Recently they sent irradiated seeds to a Boy Scout in Florida who wanted to learn about the effects of radiation on plant growth. A researcher in the College of Agricultural Sciences sent samples of meat containing pathogenic bacteria to determine what levels of radiation were necessary to kill the bacteria without harming the meat.

"People don't recognize that a lot of products use nuclear," said Daniel Shedlock, former vice president of the Penn State branch of the American Nuclear Society, who is working on a doctorate at the University of Florida.

Sears agreed with Shedlock.

"We are at the forefront of a new renaissance of nuclear," Sears said.

Right now it is being used for things such as measuring soil density, the thickness of floors, polymer treatments and in the medical field. Radiation is used to kill a variety of organisms: salmonella in chicken, insects in spices and more recently in the news, anthrax in the mail.

Even with the growing use of nuclear, the field is in need of people interested in a career in nuclear technology because many engineers are retiring.

"The overall need for nuclear engineers is increasing," Sears said, adding that the number of students enrolled in the major at Penn State has tripled within the past several years.

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education found that because of declining interest, many universities have shut down their reactors, including most recently Cornell University, leaving a total of 28 operating nationwide.

"None of the reactors closed because of safety concerns or financial concerns," Sears said. Penn State's reactor is the oldest licensed reactor in the country, he added, and the university has no plans to shut it down. "We are fulfilling a role at this university," he said.

Decker, who developed an interest in nuclear engineering after doing a job shadow her senior year of high school at Breazeale, has enjoyed her experience working at the reactor.

"I really like working there," Decker said. "It is such a tight-knit community." She found that the staff members were extremely welcoming of her and also prepared to immerse her into the field. Laughing, she recalled having a three-inch thick operating manual for the reactor stuck in front of her when she first started working.

Sears returned to Breazeale as the director in 1997 after working in industry for several years. He was a reactor operator and shift supervisor at the reactor from 1964 to 1968. He emphasized the educational role of the reactor in the community and said that was one of his main reasons for returning.

"My wife says I'm always teaching," Sears said, adding that by returning to Breazeale he had the opportunity to see eyes light up. "I love watching students gain a concept," he said.