# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**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 23, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/41 "2011-03-23T03:23:15Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > 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. [Thunder Bay](http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/137815/Surprise-investment). Just for short lived isotopes used in the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/42 "2011-03-23T03:31:06Z")
Um…I don’t remember. See, when I was in 8th grade we took a fieldtrip to Seabrook Station’s [science and nature center](http://www.fpl.com/environment/nuclear/seabrook_science_and_nature_center.shtml). I remember there being starfish in a [touch pool](http://www.fpl.com/environment/nuclear/seabrook_marine_touch_tank.shtml), and an elevator. But that’s literally all I remember. I have no idea if we saw the rest of the plant or not. They _do_ give tours, so maybe. ---
**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 23, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/43 "2011-03-23T04:13:25Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Um…I don’t remember. > > See, when I was in 8th grade we took a fieldtrip to Seabrook Station’s [science and nature center](http://www.fpl.com/environment/nuclear/seabrook_science_and_nature_center.shtml). I remember there being starfish in a [touch pool](http://www.fpl.com/environment/nuclear/seabrook_marine_touch_tank.shtml), and an elevator. But that’s literally all I remember. I have no idea if we saw the rest of the plant or not. They _do_ give tours, so maybe. One way to find out is to look into a mirror in a dark room – if your eyes glow, then either you have been in a reactor, or there is a vampire standing behind you looking over your shoulder. ---
**Author:** ![TexasDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@TexasDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TexasDriver)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/44 "2011-03-23T05:35:03Z")
I went on a tour once. The closest we could get was the training room which was supposedly a complete duplicate of the real control room. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/45 "2011-03-23T15:19:47Z")
I worked in a nuclear weapons establishment at one time. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/46 "2011-03-23T16:27:27Z")
No, but I’ve been inside a Minuteman III silo. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/47 "2011-03-23T16:46:40Z")
No. Although I’ve been inside [Dinorwig](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinorwig_Power_Station), which was pretty awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/48 "2011-03-23T16:53:25Z")
Never a nuclear facility but my company owns gas and coal plants, so I’ve been all over them. The coal plant is particularly cool. ---
**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 24, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/49 "2011-03-24T02:44:02Z")
Oh yeah, coal plants are cool…I’ve toured the Cape Fear Steam Power Plant (coal, though they have a unit that can be converted to oil). I was surprised that the 1924 unit was still in operation. The website makes no mention of it, but they had a 1940’s-era unit within the main building that was out of use and essentially abandoned. My group got to ride the elevator to the top of the tower, where we had an excellent view of the nearby Shearon-Harris Nuclear Plant. ---
**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 24, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/50 "2011-03-24T03:03:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Also walked by the reactor buildings at Chalk River, but never went in. As a youngster, I was in the Chalk River buildings – my grandfather, father and uncle designed and built it. My mom, who ran security for the design phase, and my dad courted during that period, so I owe my very existence to Chalk River. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610/51 "2011-03-24T13:59:06Z")
In 1985 or 86, my class did a school project about atomic energy. Part of the project was a visit to the [SNR-300](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR-300), including a guided tour. As you can see in the wiki article, this special reactor was a hot political topic in Germany in the eighties, and after costing 7 billion D-marks, it was finally abandoned without ever being online. Ironically, it was later transformed into an [amusement park](http://www.wunderlandkalkar.eu/de). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-inside-a-nuclear-reactor/575610.md?page=2)