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/ NEWS / THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
STATE
Kansas not unfamiliar with nuclear reactors
BY CHRIS NEAL
cneal@kansan.com
Believe it or not, the University used to have a nuclear reactor on campus. Built in the '60s, the reactor was part of a nuclear engineering program that has long since been done away with.
Health and Safetv.
"The reactor was a training instrument for nuclear reactor students and it was a research tool for neutrons," said Michael Lemon, the radiation and laser safety officer for Environmental
The reactor was shut down and decommissioned in the 1980s. The license ended in 1992 and the building was brought to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Standards.
History of nuclear power plants in Kansas
Wolf Creek: At 1,200 megawatts (1,200,000 kilowatts), Wolf Creek is a full-blown nuclear power plant. It differs from school reactors in that it produces electricity, which the others do not. Because of this, the reactor must be cooled at all times. The school reactors below do not require forced flow cooling, but they must be kept in water to maintain cooling.
University of Missouri: As the biggest research reactor on any college campus, the University of Missouri's reactor operates at 10 megawatts (10,000 kilowatts). Construction of this reactor began in 1963 and was in full operation by 1966, operating at only five megawatts. By 1974, it was allowed to operate at 10 megawatts.
Kansas State:Built in 1962, Kansas State's reactor was only allowed to operate at 100 kilowatts when it first opened. Since then, it has increased its operating power to 550 kilowatts, but is allowed to go up to 1,250 kilowatts.The Department of Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering uses the reactor primarily,but other departments use the facility as well.
University of Kansas: Among the smallest of these reactors is KU's 10 kilowatt Bendix reactor. According to Lemon, the Bendix, which used to be housed in Burt Hall next to the current engineering buildings, no longer exists because it offered less and less value for the researchers at the University.
Sources: http://www.mne.ksu.edu/research/centers/reactor/Reactor%20Facilities, http://www.murr.missouri.edu/index.php Michael Lemon (Radiation and Laser Safety Officer for Environmental Health and Safety), Wolf Creek photo by Eric Benjamin
New system could change the future of classrooms
CAMPUS
BY JONATHAN SHORMAN jshorman@kansan.com
and other sites on the Internet.
Professors and IT employees gathered yesterday to envision how video could transform University classrooms.
Representatives from the higher education technology company Echo360 and the School of Pharmacy showed off Echo's "blended learning" system. This technology system allows professors to capture video of lectures, powerpoint slides and other electronic devices and blend them together into a single presentation that can be posted on Blackboard
Steve Dahlberg, systems administrator for School of Pharmacy IT, said the school started using Echo four years ago as a backup system for the live streaming video program the school had been using in its distance learning program. Over time, the school realized that Echo had more potential, even though it didn't allow Live broadcasts.
"They can listen to it many times over." Dahlberg said. "And we also do it for students who are out with the flu, pregnancies."
The "asynchronous" technology, as Dahlberg called it, can even allow a professor to pre-record lectures if he or she will be gone. Dahlberg said the School of Pharmacy has used the recordings to help absent students the chance to keep up.
Carrie Gerard, an account manager, said Echo had more than 450 customers in schools such as Creighton University and Missouri State University.
Gerard also said that several departments at the University were interested in the technology, but refused to say which ones. Dahlberg described yesterday's luncheon as a chance for the University community to learn about the product.
Edited by Danielle Packer
NATIONAL
Utah's immigration policy viewed as "hypocritical" by congressman
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY — The Texas congressman who heads the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has accused the Justice Department of being "hypocritical" for not pursuing legal action against a Utah law approving a guest worker program for illegal immigrants.
the Administration bases their decisions on their own political views rather than constitutional principle", Smith said in a statement to "The Associated Press.
The Utah law doesn't take effect for two years, which state officials said was done specifically to avert a lawsuit. The state is seeking a federal waiver.
U. S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R Texas, said in a letter Monday to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that the Utah law approving the program is unconstitutional, and called the department's inaction a "stark contrast" to the federal government's lawsuit against Arizona for a law "that merely complements and assists in the enforcement of federal immigration law."
"This is hypocritical. If (the Justice Department) chooses not to take legal action against Utah's unconstitutional law, it will be clear
In his letter, Smith said the government's inaction would reinforce the perception that it only opposes strict enforcement measures such as Arizona's law.
In its challenge to Arizona's law, the Justice Department argued the measure intrudes on its exclusive authority to regulate immigration, disruptions U.S.-Mexico relations, hinders cooperation between state and federal officials, and puts burdens on legal immigrants. A federal judge put key parts of that law on hold last July, a ruling the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals upheld earlier this month.
Smith said that if Obama's administration "is serious about having a uniform immigration policy rather than a 'patchwork' of state' immigration laws you profess to oppose, then the Administration needs to take action against the Utah law"
A showdown with federal officials is the last thing Utah wants, the state's Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said. He and Utah Gov Gary Herbert have met with federal officials, including members of the Justice Department.
Shurtleff, a Republican, said Smith's letter is not only wrong, but strictly political.
"He's riding right along the line of the hard right wing radicals," said Shurtleff. "He's trying to stick his nose into Utah's business and play politics."
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