The Nuclear Reactor Laboratory (NRL) operates a five-million-watt research reactor (MITR-II) that is one of the largest operated at a university.
NRL provides the focus for a wide range of research activities involving the use of nuclear radiation, including programs in the Departments of Physics, Materials Science and Engineering, Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, as well as the Parsons Laboratory and the Center for Environmental Health Sciences.
NRL is equipped with a wide variety of sample irradiation facilities, with fast and slow neutron fluxes up to 1014 per cm2 per second; temperature-controlled in-pile facilities, a neutron diffractometer; and a fission converter facility. In-pile loops that closely simulate the environment in light water power reactors are available for corrosion and irradiation damage testing. An in-pile high-temperature irradiation facility for advanced materials and fuel studies has been successfully demonstrated to operate up to 1500ºC. An excellent medical irradiation facility with a clinically useful epithermal beam is available for patient and animal irradiations.
Other experimental facilities and instrumentation include radiochemistry laboratories; hot cells for dismantling or testing; a shielded hot box for handling and nondestructive testing of radioactive materials; nuclear detection equipment; delayed and prompt gamma activation analysis facilities; an Inductively Coupled Plasma spectrometer (ICP-OES); and a materials characterization laboratory.
Current research topics include applications of nuclear trace analysis to problems in the physical and engineering sciences, life sciences, geosciences, and the environment; radiation effects on materials; advanced fuels development; dose and corrosion reduction in power reactors; reactor engineering; instrumentation for neutron detection; nuclear medicine, including brain cancer therapy development; and isotope development.
NRL facilities are also used for teaching and research activities by other institutions. NRL provides special capabilities to regional hospitals and industries, e.g., radioisotopes for medical research and trace element analysis for a wide range of sample matrixes.
Undergraduates can be involved in the operation of the reactor and in related research activities through special projects or senior theses. Graduate student thesis research is carried on in the various research areas mentioned earlier. A current summary report describing NRL activities in greater detail is available.
For information, inquire at the office of the director, Dr. David E. Moncton, Room NW12-204, MIT, 617-253-8883.