The Thermal Column is a facility located outside on the east side of the core. It is a large, boral-lined, graphite-filled container with the graphite sectioned into “stringers," each 4 inches by 4 inches and 4 feet in length. Samples are placed in the center of the thermal column where one stringer has been permanently removed. Since the facility is located adjacent to the reactor and is surrounded by graphite, the samples primarily experience thermal neutrons. This facility is primarily used for fission track dating but has been used for other low-fluence thermal neutron irradiations.