Examples include Dr. Alan P. Fleer of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute who used irradiation to determine natural actinides and plutonium in marine sediments and Captain Daniel J. Robbins of the McClellan Air Force Base who is investigating calibration of ultra-sensitive neutron monitoring devices by thermal neutron fission of uranium foils. For education of the general public and students at all levels in local and other New England schools, the reactor staff provides lectures and tours periodically throughout the year. This project is under the technical direction of Professor Otto K. Harling. The NRL supports the affirmative action goals of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Of a staff of 36 there are currently five engineering and management positions held by minorities and women.
Several women are currently in training to become licensed reactor operators.
I generated 250,445 MW in the sixteen years from 1958 to 1974. To summarize briefly the reactor was well utilized during the year, although still more experiments and irradiations can be accommodated because of the number and versatility of the many experimental facilities. The number of specimen irradiations was 350. There were 35 irradiations in the medical room, most in support of the neutron capture therapy program for the treatment of brain cancer and subcutaneous melanoma. Theses and publications on research supported by the reactor are running at about 15 and 30 per year, respectively.