[cdn-nucl-l] Nuclear reactor gives Dow Chemical the edge

["Adam McLean" <adam.mclean@utoronto.ca>]

Posted in the Detroit News on March 21, 2002 and at:
http://detnews.com/2002/business/0203/21/d09e-445442.htm
A research reactor right around the block... There's a picture of the
plant here:
http://www.midland-mi.org/THE%20MIDLAND%20COMMUNITY.htm

Adam

----------------

Nuclear reactor gives Dow edge

By Associated Press

Comment on this story
Send this story to a friend
Get Home Delivery
 
    MIDLAND -- When it comes to research, Dow Chemical Co. has an
unusual advantage: a nuclear reactor of its own. 
   The reactor, one of only a few dozen of its kind in the United
States, produces a maximum of 300 thermal kilowatts of power. That's
tiny by power plant standards. 
   "We don't use it for electricity, we use it for research," reactor
supervisor Ward Rigot said. 
   "We put 9,500 experiments through the reactor last year," said Ward,
who has been in charge of the reactor for two decades. "It's another
tool in our tool chest for providing information for our researchers." 
   The neutron activation analysis lets Dow researchers check chemical
and physical properties and test for traces of impurities. 
   Rigot said that calculating and charting samples is how Dow's reactor
does "the majority of the benefit for the customer." 
   Neutron activation analysis can sometimes be completed in as little
as a day. 
   "The thing I like about it most is we see so many parts of the Dow
Chemical Co.," Rigot said. 
   "I can name every business we have at Dow and we support that
business." 
   The reactor is 21 feet deep, 6 1/2 feet across and sunk into the
ground, the kind sometimes known as a swimming pool-type reactor. The
temperature of the 19-by-22 inch core reaches only about 480 degrees.
The water temperature is about 86 degrees. 
   Rigot wears a quarter-sized tag that will beep if he's exposed to too
much radiation. 
   He said people who live in areas with high radon concentrations are
exposed to more background radiation and probably get more exposure than
he does. 
   The research reactor hasn't received much public attention since its
start-up in 1967. 
   "This is the last time we were on the front page of the Midland Daily
News, and I view this as a good thing," Rigot said.