Nuclear Science Course To Be Held In Auckland

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28984, 27 August 1959, Page 14

Nuclear Science Course To Be Held In Auckland

'The Press’ Special Service

AUCKLAND, August 26. A nuclear physics laboratory, the first to be built in New Zealand for teaching radio chemistry, is nearing completion in the physics department at the Auckland University. It is costing about £12.000 The new department is divided into three. The main, and largest section, is the actual laboratory in which work will be carried out on radio-active material. This is known as the "hot” or red room. Next there is the counting room or blue room, which is lined by complicated-looking machinery that records the degree of radioactivity in material being handled Then there is the white, or cleansing room in which lecturers and students alike will wash and test their hands to see they are free of radio-activity before they leave the area. The colours used are internationally recognised indications of the degree of radio-activity to be expected in the respective areas. Unusual features in the department are the floor covering and the arrangement of the services. The four-inch covering on the floor is to prevent radio-active fluids, which might be spilt accidentally during research or tests, from flowing outside the department. All the services to the laboratory are suspended from the ceiling. This leaves the stainless steel benches completely free and reduces the danger of the services becoming contaminated through contact with radio-active material. Workmen are at present striving to finish the department in time for the first post-graduate course in nuclear physics, which will begin next Monday and last a week. It will be opened by Dr R W. Harman, chairman of the New Zealand atomic energy committee. The course has been planned during the last few months by Dr A. L. Odell, senior lecturer, and Mr R. W. Olliff. lecturer in the departments of geology and physics. Wider Use It will be the first step in the programme to introduce the wider use of radio isotopes in New Zealand and is in keeping with the Government's decision to set up a nuclear science institute. Professor D. R. Llewellyn, who with Dr Odell and other members of the university staff designed the laboratory, said yesterday' that isotopes had been in use in his department for the last six years. “Although,” he said, “their application to New Zealand industry will be more limited than it is in the United States, where new techniques have resulted in a saving of several million dollars a year, there is a definite need

for wider appreciation of their use.” Professor Llewellyn added that the Government had approved, in principle, the allocation of money to the university for teaching and research in radio chemistry. However, he felt a modest start should be made before the negotiations were completed. “A more extensive course for industry.” he said, “will be arranged for the early part of next year.” The guest lecturer at the postgraduate course will be Dr J. F. Duncan, of the University of Melbourne. The course will be attended by staff members from the universities of Otago and Canterbury. and by scientists from the Otago Medical School and from the nuclear science and plant diseases division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.