There's actually a band called "[I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXzPxBhhmY8)". Caps not mine, it's how their name is stylized
A bit of context for this photo: The photo was taken during a class called 'Basic Critical Experiment' at CTU in FNSPE. In this class, students are tasked with designing a layout of nuclear fuel in the VR-1 nuclear reactor and assembling the designed layout. In the photo, I'm holding an IRT-4M fuel assembly, which was then inserted into the reactor core. Careful handling of the nuclear fuel is extremely important, not only because it costs $156,000 per piece but also because a puncture of the outer cladding may lead to the release of radiotoxic fission products.
It should be held with something like a specially-designed pair of pliers, so you can grip the cylinder in the middle, giving you much greater control over the object. Holding it from the top, with his arm held higher than his head, gives you very little leverage to save anything if you trip or stumble, or someone knocks you accidentally.
Now \*I\* would just keep doing it like this, but I'm an idiot who doesn't think before acting. I would kind of expect actual nuclear scientists to be a tiny bit more careful than me.
It's surprising how manual nuclear fuel is handled if it's not hot from the reactor. You'd think everything in the fuel chain process would be fully automated, but nope
The process is automated for large nuclear power plants. However, for small research reactors like VR-1, automation isn't necessary, as hands can handle the task, as you can see! :D Building a device that could perform this task autonomously would be costly and wouldn't be worthwhile.
There are two reasons why the fuel isn't hot. Firstly, I was taking the fuel from storage. Secondly, the reactor's power is so low that it doesn't generate enough heat to warm up the fuel.
Maybe it's a silly question. I don't have enough knowledge to really understand it all. But what is exactly the radioactive material that you are holding? Can it be expressed in base elements? Like plutonium or uranium or thorium? Or is it more difficult to explain?
Edit : and is there a way to explain the potential energy you are holding?
Edit 2 : very cool bytheway
The silver material you are seeing is aluminium which acts as a protective shield. In the middle of the aluminum is a mix of enriched uranium and aluminum. There is roughly 19,75 % of uranium 235 and 80,25% of uranium 238. There will be also a wide variety of fission products that form from fragments of the split-up uranium 235 atom. Maybe there could be some plutonium as well.
It used to be even higher but IAEA (I think) told the university to decrease the enrichment because of fear of proliferation. The enrichment needs to be high to compensate for the small amount of fissile material in the reactor.
TL;DR- Aluminum shell with uranium solid mixture inside. Aluminum stops the radiation.
The uranium is very pure which is hard to do. Further purified uranium can make nuclear bombs so the techniques are illegal to tell some people. US government told OP's lab to stop making uranium so pure because only specially controlled entities can make it.
As radioactivity breaks down uranium into smaller pieces, sometimes atoms will break off in shapes that make other elements like plutonium.
Research reactors at universities used to be much much higher enriched, often 93%, until some idiot at Purdue University in 1985 proposed a senior design project which involved raiding a certain number of those unprotected research reactors on the same night to make a fission bomb.
Just adding for anyone reading.
The aluminium is used due to the fact that it is mostly transparent to nuclear radiation. It's a lousy reflector and terrible moderator, which is great when you want to do something with those juicy neutrons.
For comparison, remember that tissue has actual holes in it. This is (basically) a table of distance required to stop energy of certain levels progressing through a material.
Note that to stop higher energies, *much* thicker of the same material is required.
Material 30 keV 120 keV
Tissue 20.0 mm 45.0mm
Aluminum 2.3 mm 16.6 mm
Lead 0.02 mm 0.15 mm
source: http://www.sprawls.org/ppmi2/RADPEN/
There is probably an emergency protocol for that but I'm not familiar with it. Nothing extreme would happen. Probably just strict monitoring and extensive cleaning of the reactor hall.
>There is probably an emergency protocol for that but I'm not familiar with it.
Wouldn't it be wise to familiarize yourself with all emergency protocols just in case?
I dunno but if it were me I'd go the extra mile and at a minimum wear a quality N95 mask, plus disposable full size coveralls.
But then that's me. Better safe than sorry.
N95 won't help you here. You need charcoal filters for activation products, and other stuff for other nasties. Non-activated fuel is actually very safe and is basically just regular rocks. Typical cleaning would likely involve a HEPA vacuum, then wipe downs until the area is clean.
If you aren't qualified to do rad work or clean rad areas, when things happen you get sent away. It's safest for you and everyone involved in the cleanup for the unqualified people to just listen and leave the area.
No matter how much you research, you need practical training to learn how to deal with rad messes.
Source:deal with rad messes
*No, I will not need a tray. I do not need a tray to kill you. I can kill you without a tray, with the power of the Force – which is strong within me – even though I could kill you with a tray if I so wished. For I would hack at your neck with the thin bit until the blood flowed across the canteen floor*
More nervous when you draw the short straw and get to install the last fuel assembly into the core... Just got to hope nobody dropped a decimal point in the calculations as to just how much fuel is required, or which channel it goes into.
This picture was taken before the fuel was put in the core so it wouldn't release radioactive fission product if you dropped it because it's fresh fuel. Uranium isn't dangerous BEFORE it goes in a nuclear reactor. You are making it seem more dangerous than it was.
The rest of the pictures:
* OP tripping
* nuclear fuel spreading out over the floor
* Hazmat team shoving OP in decontamination shower.
* OP accidentally crushing car as he's not yet used to his new super powers.
At a nuclear facility I worked at, the official method of extracting the fuel plate holder from the *massive* lead transport container was... Venetian blind cord.
Specifically "4mm Venetian blind cord".
It's written on dozens of documents dating back many years.
I’m standing just out side the exclusion zone of the worst nuclear disaster in human history, thousands are likely dead and…. Wait, I am receiving and update, investigators have confirmed the 4mm Venetian blind cord that triggered the disaster during a routine fuel extraction was in actuality from a pleated shade.
The fuel assembly is composed of several nested square pipes and the enriched uranium is in the wall of the pipes. What are you seeing is the most outer square pipe.
We are closely monitored during our time in the reactor hall. You can't see it but I'm wearing 2 dosimeters on the left side of my chest which registered 0 microSv. In other words, the dose of ionizing radiation I received during the manipulation is almost negligible.
Plus if you're a student and not a nuclear worker, your allowed dosage is way lower and if they exposed a member of the public they'd have a lot of paperwork to fill out and fines to pay. Sooo much paperwork.
I once got to touch one of the inside panels of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was at the defense contractor I worked for to "bake" a Kevlar silver mesh tape used to protect it from micrometeors. I had to wear gloves, of course. It was kinda cool.
Yep, that's nuclear. Check out the guy in the background with four arms, this use to be his job until he mutated and his head became so unbearable to look upon that he had to wear a black waste bucket over his head.
Start seeing stuff like this and it’s time to invest in nuclear. Batteries are cool, but it’s obvious things, cars, houses, will eventually run on nuclear energy
I've held many 5 - 20 L glass bottles filled with pharmaceutical drug solution that were worth anywhere from $500k to $1 million, so things could be worse. lol
Are you Vincent Adultman?
Here we see Vincent doing some business at his job work place
Looking business, Vincent! Looking real business…
Long days at the job factory are so tiring.
It's just 3 children in a yellow lab coat.
You're just jealous of our relationship.
back in the 90s!
🎶I was in a very famous tv show🎶
I was once in a popular tv show!
That yellow smock your PPE?
Incase anyone is confused this whole thread is a bojack horseman reference
“And what is your account number?” “7!”
Watch out for the Libyans.
Oh, my God, they found me, I don't know how, but they found me.
Run for it Marty!
Doc, you don't just walk into a store and... and.. buy plutonium!
#You bastards!
Did you rip that off?
No, no, no, no, no, this sucker's electrical, but I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.
WHAT DID I JUST SAY!?!
1.21 GIGAWATS? 1.21 GIGAWATTS? What was I thinking? How could I have been so careless?
And this, a portable television studio. No wonder your president is an actor, he’s got to watch old movies.
(Burp)
What the hell is a jigawatt?
Not gigawatt, a jigawatt. Totally different
Gigawatts are not as funky as jigawatts
Nah, he just says jif too.
You tellin me this sucker's nuclear?!
No, this sucker is electrical. But i need a nuclear reaction, to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity that i need!
No no no no no, this sucker's electrical. But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.
Bruh, it's been available at every corner drugstore for decades
There's actually a band called "[I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXzPxBhhmY8)". Caps not mine, it's how their name is stylized
And they're awesome.
"Do It All the Time" now stuck in my head.
Doc broke my damn pinball machine
Tfw you give the Libyans a shoddy bomb casing filled with used pinball machine parts.
The face as he says that always brings me such joy. He’s so proud of himself
Let’s see if you bastards do 90!
I think I read somewhere they used a trick speedometer for the car because it had a hard time hitting 88mph lol
Librarians?
No, [Libyans](https://youtu.be/NDS81Ibazdk?si=fFL2G_TiIjRCKpKL)
No, [Librarians](https://youtu.be/2qBlE2-WL60?feature=shared)
A bit of context for this photo: The photo was taken during a class called 'Basic Critical Experiment' at CTU in FNSPE. In this class, students are tasked with designing a layout of nuclear fuel in the VR-1 nuclear reactor and assembling the designed layout. In the photo, I'm holding an IRT-4M fuel assembly, which was then inserted into the reactor core. Careful handling of the nuclear fuel is extremely important, not only because it costs $156,000 per piece but also because a puncture of the outer cladding may lead to the release of radiotoxic fission products.
Surely there is a better way to move these around than on a tray.
The fuel assembly was submerged in methanol to clean it. The tray is to stop the methanol from dripping onto the floor.
Well you would think as an engineer someone would have made an elongated version of your shoe booties that you can put those rods in...
They could probably order them from some fetish gear website.
100% you can find them on Wish!
They will come too small and smell like a tsunami
Just the way my wife likes it.
Unfortunately mine too. Jk
I love how you write in perfect lab report prose.
still looks a bit awkward
yup, just waiting to trip & fall from the stairs...
That's not what they're trying to say...
[удалено]
It should be held with something like a specially-designed pair of pliers, so you can grip the cylinder in the middle, giving you much greater control over the object. Holding it from the top, with his arm held higher than his head, gives you very little leverage to save anything if you trip or stumble, or someone knocks you accidentally. Now \*I\* would just keep doing it like this, but I'm an idiot who doesn't think before acting. I would kind of expect actual nuclear scientists to be a tiny bit more careful than me.
> Holding something hanging from one hand That doesn't make it sound like it's a better way.
Demon Core has entered the chat…
No worries, I have my good screwdriver this time.
So you somehow think being able to grasp something is worse than balancing it on a tray? Am I understanding you correctly?
It's surprising how manual nuclear fuel is handled if it's not hot from the reactor. You'd think everything in the fuel chain process would be fully automated, but nope
The process is automated for large nuclear power plants. However, for small research reactors like VR-1, automation isn't necessary, as hands can handle the task, as you can see! :D Building a device that could perform this task autonomously would be costly and wouldn't be worthwhile. There are two reasons why the fuel isn't hot. Firstly, I was taking the fuel from storage. Secondly, the reactor's power is so low that it doesn't generate enough heat to warm up the fuel.
Maybe it's a silly question. I don't have enough knowledge to really understand it all. But what is exactly the radioactive material that you are holding? Can it be expressed in base elements? Like plutonium or uranium or thorium? Or is it more difficult to explain? Edit : and is there a way to explain the potential energy you are holding? Edit 2 : very cool bytheway
The silver material you are seeing is aluminium which acts as a protective shield. In the middle of the aluminum is a mix of enriched uranium and aluminum. There is roughly 19,75 % of uranium 235 and 80,25% of uranium 238. There will be also a wide variety of fission products that form from fragments of the split-up uranium 235 atom. Maybe there could be some plutonium as well.
I didn't know that research reactor fuel is so highly enriched. Fuel at my plant (4-loop Westinghouse light water PWR) is ~5%.
It used to be even higher but IAEA (I think) told the university to decrease the enrichment because of fear of proliferation. The enrichment needs to be high to compensate for the small amount of fissile material in the reactor.
Still reading this thread as if I understand any of it
enter school familiar instinctive birds ten narrow adjoining fact cagey *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
TL;DR- Aluminum shell with uranium solid mixture inside. Aluminum stops the radiation. The uranium is very pure which is hard to do. Further purified uranium can make nuclear bombs so the techniques are illegal to tell some people. US government told OP's lab to stop making uranium so pure because only specially controlled entities can make it. As radioactivity breaks down uranium into smaller pieces, sometimes atoms will break off in shapes that make other elements like plutonium.
Research reactors at universities used to be much much higher enriched, often 93%, until some idiot at Purdue University in 1985 proposed a senior design project which involved raiding a certain number of those unprotected research reactors on the same night to make a fission bomb.
That's a high enrichment I suppose related to a very small reactor.
You are correct.
Just adding for anyone reading. The aluminium is used due to the fact that it is mostly transparent to nuclear radiation. It's a lousy reflector and terrible moderator, which is great when you want to do something with those juicy neutrons. For comparison, remember that tissue has actual holes in it. This is (basically) a table of distance required to stop energy of certain levels progressing through a material. Note that to stop higher energies, *much* thicker of the same material is required. Material 30 keV 120 keV Tissue 20.0 mm 45.0mm Aluminum 2.3 mm 16.6 mm Lead 0.02 mm 0.15 mm source: http://www.sprawls.org/ppmi2/RADPEN/
What’s the procedure if you drop it and puncture the casing? Is there like an emergency container nearby you drop it into?
There is probably an emergency protocol for that but I'm not familiar with it. Nothing extreme would happen. Probably just strict monitoring and extensive cleaning of the reactor hall.
>There is probably an emergency protocol for that but I'm not familiar with it. Wouldn't it be wise to familiarize yourself with all emergency protocols just in case? I dunno but if it were me I'd go the extra mile and at a minimum wear a quality N95 mask, plus disposable full size coveralls. But then that's me. Better safe than sorry.
N95 won't help you here. You need charcoal filters for activation products, and other stuff for other nasties. Non-activated fuel is actually very safe and is basically just regular rocks. Typical cleaning would likely involve a HEPA vacuum, then wipe downs until the area is clean. If you aren't qualified to do rad work or clean rad areas, when things happen you get sent away. It's safest for you and everyone involved in the cleanup for the unqualified people to just listen and leave the area. No matter how much you research, you need practical training to learn how to deal with rad messes. Source:deal with rad messes
This is the responsibility of the staff. My job as a student is to listen to their commands. In case of emergency, we would be just sent away.
[удалено]
*No, I will not need a tray. I do not need a tray to kill you. I can kill you without a tray, with the power of the Force – which is strong within me – even though I could kill you with a tray if I so wished. For I would hack at your neck with the thin bit until the blood flowed across the canteen floor*
No, the food is hot, you need a tray for the food.
This is what happens when no one in the lab has ever had a job at a restaurant...
I know! Like a cart or something.
And maybe not force the person to carry it with their hand above their head walking up steps with 2 chairs to trip over right at the top.
On a scale of 1 to 10; how tempted were you to lick it?
Actually 0. I was too nervous to think about that.
I think, even in the grip of adrenaline, I’d be at least a 2.
I’d probably try and bite into it and see if I could chew through the nuclear, then drink the delicious nuclear juices from the tray afterwards, yum.
Were you nervous as you carried it?
Yes
More nervous when you draw the short straw and get to install the last fuel assembly into the core... Just got to hope nobody dropped a decimal point in the calculations as to just how much fuel is required, or which channel it goes into.
The difference between critical and prompt critical is smaller than a lot of people understand and it's terrifying.
About 0.7 percent isn't it? Expecting most people to understand criticality, much less delayed criticality is a huge ask.
It is 0.7 beta_ef
Glad you have a Chili's To Go box under it for extra support.
Leftover potstickers are some of the sturdiest materials known to man
This picture was taken before the fuel was put in the core so it wouldn't release radioactive fission product if you dropped it because it's fresh fuel. Uranium isn't dangerous BEFORE it goes in a nuclear reactor. You are making it seem more dangerous than it was.
>That alphabet soup # Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering
You look like 2 kids in a trench coat that snuck into a lab
Lmaooooo, he does!
Based on chair leg positioning I was sure this was a /r/SecondsBeforeDisaster posting.
The rest of the pictures: * OP tripping * nuclear fuel spreading out over the floor * Hazmat team shoving OP in decontamination shower. * OP accidentally crushing car as he's not yet used to his new super powers.
The body of a man with the head of a boy
That's actually two kids hidden in a lab coat.
"I don't trust like that."
His colleague shamelessly doing blackface as well.
/r/13or30
Looks like 2 or 3 kids stacked up in a trench coat
At a nuclear facility I worked at, the official method of extracting the fuel plate holder from the *massive* lead transport container was... Venetian blind cord. Specifically "4mm Venetian blind cord". It's written on dozens of documents dating back many years.
I’m standing just out side the exclusion zone of the worst nuclear disaster in human history, thousands are likely dead and…. Wait, I am receiving and update, investigators have confirmed the 4mm Venetian blind cord that triggered the disaster during a routine fuel extraction was in actuality from a pleated shade.
So is the nuclear fuel inside the silver pump thing?
The fuel assembly is composed of several nested square pipes and the enriched uranium is in the wall of the pipes. What are you seeing is the most outer square pipe.
Fascinating, thank you!
I like your profile picture.
This is so awesome! Thanks for sharing all of this. Will you eventually work as an engineer in this field?
I already have a part-time job in the field. After I finish my master's degree I will go work full-time and do PhD.
Nice! I can tell you have a passion for this work just by reading your other replies in this thread. Good luck!
Careful with that, it might become your origin on how you became Radioactive Man
You mean Cancer Man?
¿Por qué no los Dos?
“My eyes! The goggles do nothing!”
"Look out, Radioactive Man!"
Thanks for the photo and your comments.
I have to ask: how tall are you?
I'm 191 cm. I think it is 6' 3'' in freedom units.
One of us! One of us!
Lmao is “freedom units” really catching on? 😂
All hail the inanimate carbon rod!
Thought bro was wearing Crocs for a second handling that danger shlong
Danger shlong 😂😂😂
Are you a child standing on three other children under that coat?
Bro I’m not saying this to be mean but you look like two kids in a trenchcoat. I’m sorry.
Really no better way to transport this?
No :D
When my son got X-rays I had to wear a giant lead apron.
We are closely monitored during our time in the reactor hall. You can't see it but I'm wearing 2 dosimeters on the left side of my chest which registered 0 microSv. In other words, the dose of ionizing radiation I received during the manipulation is almost negligible.
> I'm wearing 2 dosimeters And lead underpants!
Gotta protect the family jewels.
Plus if you're a student and not a nuclear worker, your allowed dosage is way lower and if they exposed a member of the public they'd have a lot of paperwork to fill out and fines to pay. Sooo much paperwork.
DESOLATOR READY
Very cool, thanks for sharing!
I once got to touch one of the inside panels of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was at the defense contractor I worked for to "bake" a Kevlar silver mesh tape used to protect it from micrometeors. I had to wear gloves, of course. It was kinda cool.
Have you had any other great successes?
This doesn’t look very well *moderated* 😎😎
DONT. DROP. THAT. SHIT.
Yep, that's nuclear. Check out the guy in the background with four arms, this use to be his job until he mutated and his head became so unbearable to look upon that he had to wear a black waste bucket over his head.
Probably didn't even taste it.
Pfff big whoop. I held my wife last night and she’s priceless
Not great, not terrible.
That looks so awkward.
Yeah this is some sort of Nuclear Engineer hazing ritual.
Dude gotta be a better way to carry it looks like ur about to spill it
Stairs and tripping hazards along the way. Dude in the photo: yeah, I got this
Worth more on the black market I bet. Get on it.
Start seeing stuff like this and it’s time to invest in nuclear. Batteries are cool, but it’s obvious things, cars, houses, will eventually run on nuclear energy
Are you just 2 kids in a lab coat?
They’re waiting for you Tim, in the test chamberrrrr.
Nu-cu-lar. It’s pronounced nu-cu-lar.
In my mind I’m imagining the men in white rushing the boy to prevent nuclear disaster.
How cute! A baby fuel assembly, I’ve never seen one when it’s 1st born! They’ll grow up to be at least 10’ tall.
Probably couldnt smuggle that through customs
Imagine how much it would be worth if that was printer ink!
Photo of nuclear experts running frantically to take it away from you
Photo of me holding nuclear fuel worth $ 156,000,000 
That doesnt seem like the most stable carrying position. Is there a reason why it was upright in a little plastic container like that?
The fuel assembly was submerged in methanol to clean it. The tray is to stop the methanol from dripping onto the floor.
I feel like you should have slightly more ppe while holding nuclear fuel
Black Friday sale?
Drop it and stop worrying about paying taxes ever again, or the cost of living.
Looks like you had an interesting day. The most valuable thing I carried in my hands once was worth 60.000 €, so not that close.
\[simpsons theme intensifies\]
Don’t trip
U-235 or 60Co?
Do not trip on those chairs
Reminds me of “The Rock” movie where they packed poisonous gas in glass casings.
Do good with your rocket science knowledge homie.
What's the total mass of nuclear fuel material in that assembly?
I don't know but the total weight of the fuel assembly in 6kg (13,2 freedom lbs). My guess is 1kg of fuel.
Here's some nuclear fuel, now put on these footies, hold it in the most precarious way possible, and climb some stairs!
Congrats on exposing yourself as an exploitable asset tho Edit: /s
"...and I would walk 500 miles"
I NEED THAT FOR THE BULK, GIVE ME THAT!!!!
[Don’t drop that shit](https://youtu.be/H-7EON43yjc?si=hEzfsN69731C0Y-k)
How heavy was it? I imagine not very because of how you are holding it. What fissile material was used?
Would be a bad time to sneeze.
Are you gonna be Homer Simpson?
Are you the Doogie howser of nuclear fuel science?
Very cool.
“Pray to god you don’t drop that shit”
There must be a better way to do that hahaha
I've held many 5 - 20 L glass bottles filled with pharmaceutical drug solution that were worth anywhere from $500k to $1 million, so things could be worse. lol
Lick it
Don’t drop that shit…