Visit to ANSTO

Twenty minutes from home here is Australia's only nuclear     research facility ANSTO .

It is entirely dedicated to manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals, doped silica for computer manufacture, rock dating and many research projects. Our Probus club organised a visit and although I have been many years ago, the guide this time made it an exhilarating tour of the most advanced nuclear production techniques.

The place is massive, which is not obvious as it is located inside a huge national park. About 1500 people work there, about 250 of them nuclear physicists.

The nuclear pharmaceuticals are used either for a wide variety of medical and industrial diagnostics or medical treatment of tumours. They can be exported if the half life is long enough. The automation of the control of the interior processes is mind-bogglingly complex, as no-one can obviously ever go inside the sealed units at the core. It is much smaller but much more complex than a nuclear power plant.

No cameras or 'phones etc were allowed anywhere near it after you leave the canteen. We were transported everywhere by bus, just as well since the weather was (and still is ) atrocious.