> In 1975, Kodak powered up the country’s first californium neutron flux multiplier (CFX) ... to provide Kodak R&D with an ample stream of neutrons for materials analysis.
> If an X-ray shows you the crack in a pipe, neutrons will show you the leak.
What a neat device. Unlike those extra spicy, dangerous sources that say "drop and run" on them, this thing only runs when you line up the CF-252 with the HEU plates. It has an off switch to stop the cascade. Perfect for lab use.
When I studied chemistry at university, only a handful of select students were introduced to the nuclear science lab in the basement. It had a lot of spicy isotopes, neutron sources, etc. Even as a chemistry student with free run of the place for years I had no idea it was in the building until the department head pulled a few of us aside.
The reason for the informal secrecy, as it was explained to me, is that every so often someone would find out there was plutonium etc in the basement and have a public freak out, including on occasion other (non-STEM) professors at the same university. These people would try to organize crusades to get it shut down because evil. Intentionally obscuring its existence greatly mitigated this drama. They appreciated us continuing the tradition of keeping it out of sight and out of mind from the general public.
The publicity around this Kodak case was an example of why no one talks about nuclear labs. The public cannot be trusted to engage in a discussion about anything “nuclear” in good faith. There are quite a few areas of science like this.
My first guess was that the beam of Cf252-emitted neutrons, when it hits the U235, triggers new neutrons moving in the same direction, rather than in random directions. This would ensure that any tertiary neutrons would join the crowd and help the amplification while not just heating the system up.
Or, maybe that's the point? It's a not-quite-critical collection of U235 that is pushed even closer to criticality by the Cf252, multiplying the Cf232's neutron flux by "up to 30 times". But, if the U235 neutrons trigger the same emissions as the Cf252 neutrons, then wouldn't that require a razor's edge of criticality?
Kodak did a lot of government work over the years. When the news came out, no one panicked. Kodak was the biggest employer in the region and had a lot of local goodwill, we trusted them to take care of things.
The Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London contained a secret, operational nuclear reactor from 1962 to 1996. Decommissioning it must have posed some interesting challenges, given it was inside a 300 year old building designed by Christopher Wren that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
You don't want to know what I keep in my basement ...
(... but it really isn't so interesting, so in order to keep the mystery, I'll simply not say what it is!)
> In 1975, Kodak powered up the country’s first californium neutron flux multiplier (CFX). Though it couldn’t live up to the sci-fi-tinged promise of its name
At the Univ of Maryland College Park in the mid 1980s, a campus of 40k students, it was common knowledge the was a small research reactor in full time operation right on campus. I can't imagine it was the only school to have one.
The article is paywalled, but remember that the USA’s business giants during the Cold War were ran quite different than businesses today, especially with the fact that they had major internal R&D labs that did novel research in-house and relied less on transfer coming from research universities. Think about the other stories that you may have heard about Xerox or Bell labs. So Kodak having research abilities is not surprising. They also made the cameras and films for US spy satellites during the Cold War. They were not just a little company that made recreational film. They were a science and chemistry powerhouse.
I see a lot of people claiming this sort of thing was “common” (JASON at the Royal Naval College London, MIT’s MITR-II, CROCUS at EPL) but there is a huge difference between these things. Kodak’s CFX was a small device the size of a refrigerator; it is a neutron source and not a reactor. CROCUS is a reactor, but also small (100W thermal) and JASON, while larger, is also low power (10 kW.) MITR-II on the other hand is nearly one thousand times larger at 6 MW thermal.
There are only three civilian reactors >1MW in the US: at MIT, UC Davis, and the University of Missouri. You could also count the RINSC MTR, which is owned and operated by the Rhode Island state Atomic Energy Commission but located on the University of Rhode Island campus and collaborates closely with the university. Similarly, there are only two >1MW in Western Europe (TU Delft and TU München.)
If this sort of thing interests you, I can recommend reading about the history of the TRIGA. Freeman Dyson and Edward Teller designed it as a reactor “safe even in the hands of a young graduate student” and the US government sent them around the world as part of Atoms for Peace.
I worked at the main Kodak tower in Rochester for a few years in the early 2000s. Mainly as a paid IT intern of sorts to earn some additional money in college.
I often had to go to the basement there to store equipment, get equipment, etc.
The stuff I'd see down there was WILD. TONS of old movie/film paraphernalia in the form of posters, plaques with celluloid celebrating various movie releases, and tons of unmarked old film canisters. There was also a TON of old tech down there.
I used to joke that I felt like I was in that Hanger 51 warehouse from the end of Indiana Jones and The Ark of the Covenant.
It's a shame things went down as they did for Kodak. I really enjoyed those years I worked there. They used to make killer tuna melt paninis in their cafeteria area near the top of the tower and in the summer months I'd keep my car parked at work and just walk across the street to see the Rochester Red Wings play (AAA minor league baseball team).
When I was at university a lifetime ago, the country had a number of university research reactors. Some of their work could be.. and was.. replaced by computer simulations, but not all. Today there are zero. My impression is that not only is the UK public ignorant and fearful of nuclear, but of "labs" in general. Their view is informed largely by newspaper headlines and Hollywood movies.
The University of Florida (Gainesville, FL), has a small nuclear reactor on campus. My mom always talked about it when I was young as she worked in the nuclear engineering department. I just checked and it's still active. Apparently it's been online since 1959.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 36.8 ms ] threadAre they stupid at PM or just selling misinformation?
Valar Atomics would like a word.
The reason for the informal secrecy, as it was explained to me, is that every so often someone would find out there was plutonium etc in the basement and have a public freak out, including on occasion other (non-STEM) professors at the same university. These people would try to organize crusades to get it shut down because evil. Intentionally obscuring its existence greatly mitigated this drama. They appreciated us continuing the tradition of keeping it out of sight and out of mind from the general public.
The publicity around this Kodak case was an example of why no one talks about nuclear labs. The public cannot be trusted to engage in a discussion about anything “nuclear” in good faith. There are quite a few areas of science like this.
My first guess was that the beam of Cf252-emitted neutrons, when it hits the U235, triggers new neutrons moving in the same direction, rather than in random directions. This would ensure that any tertiary neutrons would join the crowd and help the amplification while not just heating the system up.
Or, maybe that's the point? It's a not-quite-critical collection of U235 that is pushed even closer to criticality by the Cf252, multiplying the Cf232's neutron flux by "up to 30 times". But, if the U235 neutrons trigger the same emissions as the Cf252 neutrons, then wouldn't that require a razor's edge of criticality?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californium_neutron_flux_multi...
They give tours, and if you're in the area, it's highly recommended. A great Boston-area date for the right kind of person.
https://nrl.mit.edu/reactor/
Needless to say, that is no longer the case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JASON_reactor
(... but it really isn't so interesting, so in order to keep the mystery, I'll simply not say what it is!)
> In 1975, Kodak powered up the country’s first californium neutron flux multiplier (CFX). Though it couldn’t live up to the sci-fi-tinged promise of its name
Why? It vanished! Nobody knows why or how.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLOWPOKE_reactor
There are only three civilian reactors >1MW in the US: at MIT, UC Davis, and the University of Missouri. You could also count the RINSC MTR, which is owned and operated by the Rhode Island state Atomic Energy Commission but located on the University of Rhode Island campus and collaborates closely with the university. Similarly, there are only two >1MW in Western Europe (TU Delft and TU München.)
If this sort of thing interests you, I can recommend reading about the history of the TRIGA. Freeman Dyson and Edward Teller designed it as a reactor “safe even in the hands of a young graduate student” and the US government sent them around the world as part of Atoms for Peace.
I often had to go to the basement there to store equipment, get equipment, etc.
The stuff I'd see down there was WILD. TONS of old movie/film paraphernalia in the form of posters, plaques with celluloid celebrating various movie releases, and tons of unmarked old film canisters. There was also a TON of old tech down there.
I used to joke that I felt like I was in that Hanger 51 warehouse from the end of Indiana Jones and The Ark of the Covenant.
It's a shame things went down as they did for Kodak. I really enjoyed those years I worked there. They used to make killer tuna melt paninis in their cafeteria area near the top of the tower and in the summer months I'd keep my car parked at work and just walk across the street to see the Rochester Red Wings play (AAA minor league baseball team).
https://news.ufl.edu/2025/10/uf-students-join-elite-ranks/
https://neup.inl.gov/infrastructure/university-research-reac...