A glow on campus

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:35 am

Something I never knew was a goodly number of college's have nuclear reactors, typically for research. As such they have been exempted from security protecols that regular commercial reactors have. Now these college reactors use (or produce, can't remember which)weapons grade plutonium and the scary part is anybody can walk into them and possibly sabotage them to produce a uber dirty bomb. Makes you feel safe eh?

On a secondary note, I'm wondering why when all those nuke protestors were picketing the big commercial plants were not also picketing these university's with their own nuclear plants. Go figure.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:41 am

I visited KU (Kansas University) for a field trip a year or two ago and took a tour of their nuclear plant. I.E. walked around the reactor itself, checked out their computer bank (not even password protected, BTW--straight electronics; anyone can walk up and start messing with it), and checked out the entire facility. Oh sure, there were security cameras and locks on the doors, but anyone who really knew what they were doing could probably get into the place.

The nuclear plant was also located almost exactly in the middle of the campus.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:07 am

I just caught one of the US networks running a story about this.

edit: googled it.
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/LooseNu ... 529&page=1

Pretty scary stuff.

roid · Post by **roid** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:05 pm

(aww i thought woodchip thought of this himself)

seems like quite the lack of security though, hopefully that'l be patched quick smart eh.

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:09 am

Oh cool. We have one too.

roid · Post by **roid** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:11 am

i dare someone to stage an elaborate break in, just to leave a pair of women's underwear draped over the fuel rods in storage.

it's a college afterall.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:44 am

Would you call them "Hot pants"?

....ha ha oh i kill myself sometimes

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:13 am

Around here they'd call it a "Panty Raid".

Phoenix Red · Post by **Phoenix Red** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:05 pm

They'd produce weapons-grade plutonium, no reactors use it. Fuel's good twice, once for electricity and once for blowing ★■◆● up. I wonder how they get rid of the stuff. Wouldn't it suck to have an ungaurded truckful of it jacked.

Money! · Post by **Money!** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:19 pm

I'd put money on it that Woodchip lives in America. Am I right?

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:48 pm

Money! wrote:I'd put money on it that Woodchip lives in America. Am I right?

Up here in the soon to be icey wastelands of Michigan.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:13 pm

http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/200 ... story.html

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:00 pm

HEH. You aren't alone in the United States.

Here in "Nuclear Free" New Zealand, I live 1500 metres from the "National Nuclear Laboratory", and at the University of Canterbury (5km away) there is a 250 Kilowatt Nuclear Reactor!

The reactor is fired up every year, in absolute silence and secrecy: fuel is acquired on the sly, via certian "government channels" and the Nuclear Science graduates run it for a couple of days before shutting it down, and mothballing it for another 12 months.

UoC is the only reactor in New Zealand, and the public do not generally know of its existence. If they were aware of it, and the dates it was fired up, there would be 5,000 screaming protestors lined up in front of the reactor building.

New Zealanders aren't known for their high-intelligence, nor level of education when it comes to things nuclear: we're a bunch of idiots in fact.

In the early 90s, NZ announced it was a "Nuclear Free Zone" and refused, point blank, to allow any visiting US warships into out ports, without the US Government first providing assurances that the vessel was neither nuclear powered, or nuclear armed.

Since the US has always maintained a "neither confirm nor deny" attitude in this regard, we quickly found ourselves effectively booted out of the ANZUS Treaty (Australia, New Zealand, United States).

This has been one of the dumbest episodes NZ has ever experienced, but I have hopes we'll be building a couple of pebble-bed nuclear reactors within 20 years.