Reed Reactor Visitor Information
[ Visits and Tours | Labs and Demonstrations ]
Visits and Tours
School visits can be very flexible. We usually include a one hour tour where we cover some basic nuclear science, why Reed has a reactor, and what we use the reactor for. We also run the reactor at full power so the students can see the Cherenkov radiation (blue glow).
In addition to the tour we can run some labs with the students. These labs require no prior knowledge and students often get a lot out of them. A tour is normally limited to 12 people, but 24 can be accomodated with enough planning.
Visits and tours must be arranged at least a week before the planned date. Either email us at reactor@reed.edu or call (503) 777-7222. We meet visiting groups in the Chemistry Building Lobby.
Directions to Reed College can be found here and a campus map can be found here. The Chemistry Building is on the east side of campus, so the east parking lot is closest, but it normally fills up by 10 am.
When visiting the Reed Reactor:
- You will be asked to leave bags and heavy coats in the hallway.
- You will be asked to leave food and beverage in the hallway.
- You will be asked to print your name in our Visitor Log.
- You may be asked for photo identification.
- You should wear closed-toe shoes.
- You must ask permission before taking photos or video.
[ Visits and Tours | Labs and Demonstrations ]
Labs and Demonstrations
These are the labs we do most often. Each takes about 45 minutes.
Detecting Radiation
We place some radioactive material (most of it naturally occurring, like salt substitutes, fiestaware, lantern mantels, rocks, etc.) under a piece of paper and have the students use radiation monitors to discover where it is. Then we uncover it and discuss what each one is, what is causing the radioaction, etc. We also discuss the different types of radiation—alpha, beta, gamma—and demonstrate some of the properties of each.
Half Life
We take a material with a short half life and have the students take measurements of the activity. When they plot the data they get a lovely exponential and can determine the half life of the material.
Time, Distance, Shielding
We use this lab to demonstrate the basic principles of radiation protection.
Neutron Activation Analysis
Here we take samples that have been irradiated in the reactor and look for trace elements in them. This involves looking at spectra on the computer with some software we have. This is our main area of research.
Each lab works best with 6-12 students, and we can run as many as two in parallel with the reactor tour. If there are fewer than 10 students, we can do just a tour (1 hour), or we can do a tour and then a lab (~2 hours). If there are more than 12 but fewer than 24, half can do the lab with the other half in the tour. The two halves swap when they are done for a total of about two hours. With more students we can rotate through the labs (~3 hours), but multiple visits are preferred in such cases.
We have over two dozen student operators at Reed who run most of the labs. It's nice to have the interaction with the Reed students.
