Have you ever heard that you will glow if you get too close to a nuclear reactor? Our tour guides find themselves debunking this rumor fairly often. The closest thing to "glowing" one might experience at the lab is from Cherenkov effect, which occurs when charged particles travel through water faster than light can in that medium, creating a stunning blue glow. This phenomenon happens at our Advanced Test Reactor, each time fuel is removed from the reactor. ⚛️ Watch to learn more about how this

16 reactions | Have you ever heard that you will glow if you get too...

The blue glow is called Cherenkov radiation, and it's caused by very high energy electrically charged particles, such as electrons, traveling faster than the speed of light in a medium, such as water. Think of it like a sonic boom for light. In certain mediums, the speed of light is slower, and particles can travel faster than light in that medium. For example, the speed of light in water is 225,000,000 metres per second, compared to 299,792,458 metres per second in a vacuum, or about 75% the sp

Nuclear Reactor and Cherenkov Radiation/Effect. In Nuclear Fission Power Plants, civil electricity/energy is produced by the reactor ( usually, there is more than one per plant). A nuclear fission reactor is a type of nuclear reactor capable of managing a chain fission reaction in a controlled manner, starting from fissile material , in order to produce electricity from the heat released during fission. So ... This is what happens in nuclear power plants. In the reactor , the chain reaction is f