# Have you ever been inside a nuclear reactor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610 "2011-03-22T15:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/21 "2011-03-22T20:26:54Z")
I test and inspect three fire suppression systems at a nuclear plant. I have never been inside the reactor, but one of my systems protects the Service Water Intake structure which pumps the water into the reactor for cooling and to drive the turbine. I have been through the reactor building a few times. One trip resulted in the loss of a hard hat that would not pass though the radiation detector at the exit. The guy I was working with told me that it was not uncommon, and could have been caused by the hard hat being expose to sunlight… ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/22 "2011-03-22T20:45:17Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > No, actually, I’ve been inside a reactor. This was at the Darlington plant in Ontario, while it was under construction, and they hadn’t closed the reactor building in yet (let alone add fuel and moderator). We walked through the reactor building and paused in front of the calandria while the guide explained what it was and how it worked. (The fuelling machines were not yet in place, so we could see the ends of the horizontal tubes that would hold the fuel.) I used to work there during the design and construction phase. I spent at least half a day each week poking about the place. On my top three list were the steam-punk magnificence of the calandria, the hobbit tunnel a kilometer out under Lake Ontario, and the towering tritium removal facility. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/23 "2011-03-22T21:13:49Z")
[Yes](http://www.flickr.com/photos/unclerojelio/791469962/). That is me on the right. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/24 "2011-03-22T23:01:39Z")
Of course, as have several other ex Navy nukes here. The first time I entered the reactor compartment, I was stunned by how tight it was in there. I’m a pretty skinny dude, and I found myself wriggling through very tight squeezes. A chubby guy would never make it in. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/25 "2011-03-22T23:17:21Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I spent most of last summer inside [one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Research_Universal_Reactor) and still do occasionally. I just heard that the government put aside some funds to build a new facility in Timmons or Thunder Bay to produce the isotopes that used to come from Chalk River. ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/26 "2011-03-22T23:21:45Z")
Yes, we had to learn some basic safety operations as part of disaster training in a former occupation. ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/27 "2011-03-22T23:22:43Z")
I took a tour of Three-Mile Island as part of a school group once. We got cool dosimeter badges. We didn’t go in the reactor that was damaged, only the other one, and I can’t remember any more exactly what we were shown. ---
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/28 "2011-03-22T23:24:39Z")
Not school group, come to think of it; it was a summer science program. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/29 "2011-03-22T23:38:24Z")
No, but I have a friend whose dad was a physicist in Germany. Her middle name is [Desy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desy). ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/30 "2011-03-22T23:45:34Z")
I’ve seen the backup diesel generators at Browns Ferry, but I didn’t get to visit the nuclear part of the plant. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/31 "2011-03-23T00:07:32Z")
Was at Oak Ridge facility when I was a kid. It was a kind of museum open to the public. Our family were the only people there. Long stretches of seeing no staff even. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/32 "2011-03-23T01:07:47Z")
I’m surprised over half the respondents have been in one. I thought it wouldn’t be that high. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/33 "2011-03-23T01:13:35Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > I’m surprised over half the respondents have been in one. I thought it wouldn’t be that high. Yeah but the other 400 people who’ve viewed this thread (till now) haven’t responded; their answer is “no.” ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/34 "2011-03-23T01:36:05Z")
Well, views are not the number of separate people who’ve viewed the thread. But you’re probably right that people who have been in a reactor will come running to vote. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/35 "2011-03-23T01:49:21Z")
Depending on what counts, I’ve visited one of Sandia National Lab’s research reactors or maybe it was the Hot Cell facility. You had to get onto Kirtland AFB, then get into Tech Area III, then into Tech Area V, and of course you had to be visiting on the once-every-ten-years Family Day. Saw the Z-machine the same way and had seen whatever they had it set up as a decade earlier as a young kid. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/36 "2011-03-23T01:55:19Z")
On second thought, that might have actually been the Saturn Accelerator. It’s been a long time and I’d have to call Dad and see if he remembers. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/37 "2011-03-23T02:02:32Z")
Yep. [They give tours](http://www.wsu.edu/nrc/index.html) for Mother’s Day Weekend. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/38 "2011-03-23T02:22:35Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Of course, as have several other ex Navy nukes here. Indeed. I’ve been in the engine room of numerous nuclear-powered ships, including a dozen or so submarines and one surface ship (a cruiser). I’ve actually been inside the reactor compartment (while the reactor was shut down, of course) on the two plants I qualified on, the D1G prototype plant, and the S6G plant on _Los Angeles_-class submarines. Interestingly (well, to me, anyway), despite vast differences in the two plants, both had the same reactor core (the D2W core). > [@minor7flat5](#): > > …The first time I entered the reactor compartment, I was stunned by how tight it was in there. I’m a pretty skinny dude, and I found myself wriggling through very tight squeezes. A chubby guy would never make it in. Agreed. I’m not particularly skinny, and I remember squeezing around the ion exchanger (which picks up a lot of radioactive contamination from the circulating reactor coolant). As I squeezed around it (basically hugging it), I remember thinking that I’d be pretty screwed if I got stuck. I also remember fervently hoping that the shielding around the exchanger was in good shape, because my 'nads were right up against it as I squeezed past. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/39 "2011-03-23T02:24:51Z")
I’ve been on a tour of the Bruce plant on Lake Huron, in Ontario. Also walked by the reactor buildings at Chalk River, but never went in. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/40 "2011-03-23T02:32:12Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I’ve actually been inside the reactor compartment (while the reactor was shut down, of course) on the two plants I qualified on, the D1G prototype plant, and the S6G plant on _Los Angeles_-class submarines. D1G 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610.md?page=3)