Local college given its own nuclear reactor
Posted
1960
Chain reaction
Manhattan College asked for, and received, a nuclear reactor from the Atomic Energy Commission, which loaned the college 5,500 pounds of uranium valued at $100,000. Riverdale and Kingsbridge residents were invited to "see how the uranium is confined, how the fuel is loaded and how energy is produced by nuclear reaction."
The lab was intended for use by physics majors and engineering students who chose the nuclear science elective at the college.
Officials at Manhattan College stressed that the operation of a nuclear reactor at the school would present no hazard to residents in the area, nor to the students who worked with it daily, The Press reported.
