Introduction

The Radiation Center is a unique facility which serves the entire Oregon State University Campus as well as other Oregon universities and numerous institutions of higher education throughout the nation. Located within the Radiation Center are offices and laboratory facilities for the OSU Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics. Space is also provided for the Western Nuclear Science Alliance, the Advanced Thermal Hydraulics Research Lab, the Oregon Space Grant, and OSU programs in nuclear chemistry, radiation chemistry, and geo- and cosmochemistry. The Radiation Center and its staff also actively support programs carried out by State of Oregon agencies such as the Oregon Department of Energy, the Oregon Health Division and the Oregon State Police. The Radiation Center is one of the top ranked institutional programs of its type in the country, and there is no other university facility with the combined capabilities of the OSU Radiation Center in the western half of the United States.

The primary mission of the OSU Radiation Center is:

"...to serve as the campus wide teaching, research, and service facility for programs involving the use of ionizing radiation and radioactive materials."

Within recent years this mission has expanded beyond the campus and currently includes supporting many other Oregon universities and state agencies, as well as providing services for other institutions both nationally and internationally.

Teaching
The Radiation Center provides space and technical support for all types of internal and off-campus instructional activities involving nuclear science, nuclear engineering, nuclear and radiation chemistry, radiation protection and similar programs. Currently, 70-75 different courses per year are taught totally or in part at the Radiation Center; 40% of these use the reactor; and 40% of the reactor's operating hours support these classes.

Research
The Radiation Center supports research, development and service programs involving nuclear science and engineering, radiation protection, and related disciplines. It provides a place especially designed for the use and handling of radioisotopes and other sources of ionizing radiation. Research totaling approximately two million dollars per year is performed at the Radiation Center by resident researchers. About 70% of projects use the reactor. Research projects include applications of:

• Neutron activation analysis
• Radiotracer techniques
• Medical isotope development and production
• Geological age dating
• Neutron radiography
• Thermal hydraulics of nuclear steam systems
• Radiation sterilization
• Radiation dosimeter testing
• Boron neutron capture therapy
• Radiochemical methodologies