REAL LIFE NEWS: BLU-TAK SAVES MONEY AT NUCLEAR POWER STATION
by Hazed
Sometimes a problem can be solved with the most mundane of household objects. At the Dounreay nuclear reactor in Scotland, rather than spending thousands of pounds developing a special tool to retrieve samples from inside the reactor’s core, the team used something a lot more low tech: Blu-tak!
The reactor is being decommissioned and a team had to retrieve small pieces of radioactive metal from inside the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR). They came up with the idea of putting a blob of Blu-Tak onto the end of a rod which could be inserted deep into the PFR. The metal stuck to the tacky substance and could be pulled out easily.
Very ingenious!
This isn’t the first time the teams tasked with decommissioning Dounreay have used household items to come up with cost-effective ways to deal with hazardous materials. They have used silver ironing board cover and a duvet to protect a robotic camera used to explore the reactor’s pipes. How very inventive.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36340673