Missouri S&T is home to the state’s first nuclear reactor. Operational since 1961 and one of only three nuclear reactors in Missouri, the S&T reactor is used for research, onsite tours, education, including distance courses for universities that have no reactor, and practical training. S&T nuclear engineering students can obtain their operator’s license by operating the reactor through the university’s training program. At full power (200 kilowatts), the pool reactor’s core produces some 5.4 trillion fissions per second. The resulting energy creates a blue glow in the pool. The greater the number of fissions, the more intense the glow.

Share This Story

Spark a Memory?

Share your story! Fill out the form below to share your fondest memory or anecdote of S&T. If you'd prefer not typing, you can also share by phone at 833-646-3715 (833-Miner150).

Elizabeth and Teddy Caputa-Hatley

Elizabeth and Teddy Caputa-Hatley

Elizabeth and Teddy Caputa-Hatley met on the second day of Opening Week in 2015 in Butler-Carlton Civil Engineering Hall. Elizabeth…

First woman department chair

First woman department chair

In 1990, Dr. Elizabeth Cummins was named chair of Missouri S&T’s English department. She joined S&T as an instructor in…

Leading a national lab

Leading a national lab

At Sandia National Laboratories, Joan Woodard, a mathematics graduate in 1973, was the executive vice president and deputy laboratories director…

Tom Benton’s ‘Missouri,’ from mural to movie

Tom Benton’s ‘Missouri,’ from mural to movie

It was “over a few root beer floats” one night that James Bogan and Frank Fillo decided to make a…

Erin Hayden and Matthew Garger

Erin Hayden and Matthew Garger

Although Erin Hayden and Matthew Garger were both students at S&T for an overlapping year, they didn’t meet until the…

Advice for tomorrow’s leaders

Advice for tomorrow’s leaders

Louis Smith, EE’66, president of AlliedSignal Inc., gave the commencement address to the graduating class in the spring 1993. The…