While the public is more likely to think about weapons or power plants when nuclear safety is being discussed, the reality is that there is plenty of nuclear or radioactive material in everyday places like universities and hospitals.
National Public Radio’s show Marketplace contacted a leading expert on how rules govern the safety and storage at those facilities, joint UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Global Nuclear Security Howard Hall.
Hall, who is in Washington, D.C., this week along with representatives from fifty countries for nuclear discussions at the White House, told Marketplace that while having such materials on campus might seem less secure than at a national facility, there are still plenty of rules and precautions in place to ensure that mishaps, thefts, or acts of terror don’t occur.
“My radioactive sources are stored in safes that are bolted to the floor so that the sources are not easily stolen,” said Hall, who also serves as the director of the Institute for Nuclear Security and is a Fellow of the Howard H. Baker Jr Center for Public Policy Global Security Policy Program.
The full story and podcast can be accessed here.