8 Comments

  1. That’s great news. I hope the new leadership team is successful in firming up the college’s long term continued existence.

  2. Rod, there’s a small typo in your second to last paragraph:

    “…for a valuable component of the *divers* educational opportunities offered in the…”

    I assume you mean *diverse* educational opportunities, unless Sweetbriar is a scuba training school? (Har har)

  3. Probably a freudian flashback to a former following. Good news either way. Congratulations to the responsible parties.

  4. Actually, “divers” is a somewhat archaic word meaning “various” (mostly encountered nowadays in legal contexts), whereas “diverse” means “not alike”. So either one would be OK.

    Now, the important question : can we get them a research reactor? Think Reed College.

  5. @publius

    Now, the important question : can we get them a research reactor? Think Reed College.

    I like the idea and will pursue it.

  6. Does General Atomics even build TRIGA reactors anymore?

    These days, it’s impossible to get a new research reactor at universities, much less a small liberal arts college. That’s why I’m plugging a shared, distributed, state-of-the-art reactor simulator as a solution for engineering solutions who want to get some experience “running” a reactor.

    Yeah, it’s not the same thing as running a real reactor, but it’s something that is actually possible and affordable in today’s Postmodern world. Plus, it’s far more accessible to a wider variety of students.

  7. @Brian Mays

    While I roger the very large challenge associated with building and operating a research reactor in today’s United States, there is still no complete substitute for the capabilities they offer. Operating simulators are terrific and getting much less expensive than ever before and I think they are a great resource appropriate for any university program.

    However, I am not aware of ANY research reactor in our area of Virginia, despite the fact that we have a pretty fair concentration of nuclear companies, colleges and universities. Sweet Briar’s large, rural campus might be a good location for a regional facility accessible to students from UVA, VCU, VT, Liberty, and dozens of smaller colleges.

    General Atomics might be out of the business of research reactors, but there are a couple of Lynchburg companies that might be interested. If there is going to be a growing nuclear industry around the world, there is going to be a market for research reactors.

    It’s a wild and crazy thought, but so was the idea of a student and alumnae led resistance movement to halt the closure ordered by the previous board of directors.

  8. Rod – If you’ve followed, as I have, the saga of the “SUNRISE reactor” — a research reactor intended to be shared by many schools in the southeastern US — then you might be a bit more pessimistic.

    We live in crazy times — times in which there is a lot of talk, but not much action.

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