MR Reactor Live at Brookhaven National Lab (March 15, 1959)

I'm using this video to make a point about neutrons... in a conversation taking place elsewhere. Feel free to ignore it. At 9:44 PM on the 15th of March 1959 the very first Medical Research Reactor or MRR reached critically at Brookhaven National Labs in Upton New York. It would soon be ready for use with patients later that year. In the aerial photo looking south, you can see the four 12 bed nursing pods on the right, with the hospital service facilities in the center. The larger main laboratory is on the left with the building for the reactor just behind it. That circular reactor building is made of steel and is 60 feet in diameter and 54 feet high. The core was set in a 24 inch diameter cylindrical aluminum tank 7 feet 7 inches high. The MRR's primary purpose was to produce neutrons for research, diagnosis and various therapies for man and his diseases. It produced a maximum neutron flux of 20 trillion neutrons per square centimeter per second. The facility pioneered a treatment known as BNCT or Boron Neutron Capture Therapy for treatment of highly malignant brain tumors and melanomas of the skin that could not be handled with surgery. As a result of reduced funding for research, the reactor was last operated in December of 2000.