THE TECHGRAM Vol. XXXIII, No. 19 JULY 1, 1956 Tech Gets Uranium For Reactor A neutron source and 2,500 pounds of natural uranium metal, to be used in connection with expanding instruction in nuclear engineering, have been approved for Virginia Tech, the Atomic Energy Commission announced in Washington June 21. The uranium will be used by Virginia Tech in the construction of the first university-owned graphite-moderated exponential reactor. Commenting on the AEC's action, Dr. T. M. Hahn, Jr., head of the physics department, said, "When completed, the new exponential reactor, along with the 2,000,000-volt nuclear accelerator, nuclear reactor simulator, and associated nuclear equipment, will give Virginia Tech nuclear facilities valued at nearly a half million dollars." He pointed out that all of these facilities have been acquired at a very little cost to Virginia taxpayers. Dr. Hahn predicted that the new sub-critical reactor made possible by the AEC will be completed and in operation by the end of the summer and will "provide an invaluable training and research facility for Virginia Tech's graduate nuclear engineering physics program." This early completion date is possible because college technicians have been at work for two months machining the 32,000 pounds of reactor graphite to be used in this new facility. The exponential pile will therefore be nearing completion and will be a tour feature when Virginia Tech is host to the Eighth Oak Ridge Regional Symposium on Atomic Energy and Science in its first Virginia appearance July 30-31. As a result of the AEC loan, Virginia Tech has acquired the new nuclear facility at minimum cost to the state. The new sub-critical reactor that will be constructed requires no unusual safety controls, expensive shielding or heat removal equipment, and can be maintained on a negligible operational budget as compared to that required for a critical reactor. "Yet such a sub-critical assembly," says Dr. Hahn, "provides a valuable laboratory training device." The sub-critical assembly consists of an arrangement of uranium rods in a graphite moderator. When a neutron source is introduced, a high neutron flux is obtained from nuclear fissions in the arrangement but the reaction can not be sustained without the presence of the main neutron source. The AEC announcement said, "Under a recent amendment to the Commission's assistance policy, neutron sources composed of plutonium and beryllium are now available for licensing to the users of sub-critical assemblies. This type of source is considered superior in many ways to those previously available." Concluded the AEC, "The Commission for some time has been supplying certain materials for these assemblies without a use charge being made, subject to the availability of the materials and to a determination that such loans will result in a net advantage to the Commission's program to assist in alleviating the current shortage of nuclear scientists and engineers." According to Dr. Hahn, plans are already afoot to use the nuclear accelerator, constructed by graduate students and faculty members, as a neutron source for the new exponential reactor, thus making possible more extensive fundamental and unusual reactor research. All of the nuclear facilities at Tech will have a prominent place in the Oak Ridge Symposium July 30-31 and the Short Course in Nuclear Engineering Physics to be given at Virginia Tech August 1-10. Sponsored by Virginia Tech, in cooperation with the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Atomic Energy Commission, the symposium will feature a traveling exhibit from the American Museum of Atomic Energy, a General Electric film "A Is for Atom," and a variety of symposia on nuclear topics. The short course, first and most extensive of its kind in Virginia, will have leaders from major nuclear industries as lecturers in addition to members of the faculty.

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