Experimental Nuclear Reactor Celebrates 50th Anniversary in a Changed World; Event to be Marked by Oct. 21-22 Conference

April 24, 2007
Contact:
  • umichnews@umich.edu

ANN ARBOR—The year was 1948. The shock and horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were still fresh in everyone’s mind, and Russia now certainly had “The Bomb.” The Iron Curtain has just been erected and Joe McCarthy was hounding allegedly traitorous “Reds” among us. In an uncertain world, the power of the atom seemed to offer a tenuous sense of geopolitical security.

But to many, the atom also seemed to hold the promise
of a clean, abundant energy source. New cancer therapies,
novel industrial isotopes and other important technologies
related to this strange new force of nature were just
beginning to emerge.

That year, the University of Michigan, long a leader in
adopting new technologies, dedicated a 2-megawatt research
reactor that was to explore the peaceful uses of nuclear
energy. The facility, built with a $1 million grant from
the Ford Motor Company and the university’s first capital
campaign, was made a memorial to 585 alumni, students,
faculty and staff from the University who lost their lives
in World War II. The Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project,
organized around the Ford Nuclear Reactor, was to be the
test bed for all the good things that might come out of
nuclear science and technology.

“The original theme was to promote understanding, if
not acceptance, by society,” said John C. Lee, chair of the
Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Science
at U-M, and director of the Phoenix Project. “Phoenix is a
living memorial, not a library or a statue.”

Today, 50 years later, it continues to live. The
milieu of nuclear weapons has become less centralized, and
in many ways more terrifying. And the bright future
envisioned by backers of nuclear power half a century ago
seems but a dim memory, darkened by each new mishap like the
recent radiation release in Japan. But the Phoenix Memorial
Lab is still breaking ground, developing and testing new
materials, producing isotopes for health care and cutting-
edge engineering, and training hundreds of students to use
the atom to make peoples’ lives better. Because it’s aim is
basic research, the lab continues to thrive and produce
techniques and materials that make the world a better place.

On Oct. 21 and 22, the University and the Michigan
Memorial Phoenix Project will host an anniversary symposium
to talk about what we’ve learned from the reactor, and what
bold new ideas remain yet to be explored. Dozens of leading
nuclear researchers from across the country will talk about
the continued importance of experimental nuclear reactor
facilities like the Phoenix Project, use of radiation for
new science, like exploring the cosmos, new frontiers of
material science, and the future of nuclear power and
research reactors.

For more details on the two-day symposium, visit
http://www.umich.edu/~mmpp/ or contact Zonda Ketola, 734-
764-6213 or zketola@umich.edu.

This might be a good time for you to think about a
story exploring where we are in the nuclear age, and looking
at how a “big science” facility like the Michigan Memorial
Phoenix Project still has a place in basic research. The
assembly of national authorities on hand for this symposium
would give you a running start on reporting such a story.

Also, for your consideration, here are some key areas
of research being pursued by the U-M facility:

Neutron Activation Analysis?A non-destructive way to
detect trace amounts of chemistry in an object. The U-M
facility is currently used by geologists, archaeologists,
environmental scientists, chemists and engineers to gather
very accurate measures of the isotopic composition of a
sample, for dating its age, or determining the quality of
its material. In particular, the Argon-39/Argon-40 dating
technology is far more precise at much older ages than other
dating technologies, like Carbon-14 testing. Among the
thousands of artifacts and samples tested over the years,
we’ve even looked at rocks from Mars.

Materials Research?The reactor’s source of high-energy
neutrons has been used to test the wear and tear on
stainless steel and other materials used in the construction
of commercial nuclear power reactors. Long-term exposure to
neutron radiation is known to make these critical materials
more brittle, and the Ford Reactor offers a way to test this
effect in fast-forward, to anticipate and perhaps eliminate
any looming safety concerns for power plants.

Neutron Radiography?The neutron source can also be used as
a kind of X-ray, to see inside things. But unlike its
cousin the X-ray, the neutron ray can penetrate metal.
Rather than a picture of the shape of a spray can, the
neutron beam can actually see how much paint is left in the
can, Lee explained. This technology is being used to study
the moving parts inside an automotive transmission, and to
make a moving picture of the flow of oil inside an
automobile engine.

Radiopharmaceutical Production?The Phoenix Lab is also
ideal for making the specialty radiopharmaceuticals that are
so heavily employed by the health care industry, like those
labeled with radioactive Iodine-131. In cooperation with
the nuclear medicine department of the U-M Health Centers,
the Phoenix Lab supplies these products to nearly 60
hospitals and health centers in the United States and
Canada.

Cobalt-60 Irradiation?The gamma energy released by Cobalt
60 is very useful for sterilizing human bone and cartilage
to be used in reconstructive surgery transplants around the
country. Unlike a neutron beam, the gamma radiation from
Cobalt-60 does not render the treated material radioactive,
while very effectively killing microbes such as bacteria,
viruses, and microscopic parasites. This beam has also been
used to test materials for their durability in orbit or
outer space.