Friday, September 29, 2006
Reactor training
Tonight I had nuclear reactor training lab. Reed has its own research nuclear reactor. It's very small and really couldn't do much harm at all if something went wrong, and undergrads essentially run it and do experiments with it. You don't even need to be a science major--English majors, art majors, every major under the sun has been a reactor operator. You need to take a class that meets from 7:30-9 on Mondays nights for lecture and either Wednesday or Thursday for lab and pass a government certification exam in the spring.
Tonight we learned how to do the specific checklist protocols for shutting down, setting up, and general matience every two weeks (that was the group I was in). Some of it is really basic stuff--making sure walkee-talkees work, or synchronizing the clocks. But we got to go into the loft and make sure that the vents opened and closed properly, which was an adventure because our group got to go in the crawl space!
The actual reactor is pretty sweet. In the pool, there are ducks floating in the water, and it's really a rather chill atmosphere.
So. I am learning how to manage a nuclear reactor!
Tonight we learned how to do the specific checklist protocols for shutting down, setting up, and general matience every two weeks (that was the group I was in). Some of it is really basic stuff--making sure walkee-talkees work, or synchronizing the clocks. But we got to go into the loft and make sure that the vents opened and closed properly, which was an adventure because our group got to go in the crawl space!
The actual reactor is pretty sweet. In the pool, there are ducks floating in the water, and it's really a rather chill atmosphere.
So. I am learning how to manage a nuclear reactor!
