Nuclear Scientists Take Over Manchester Science + Industry Museum

Public engagement 30th September 2022

Author: Abbie McCarrick, University of Liverpool. With thanks to Manchester Science + Industry Museum, Siemens & GREEN CDT.

In September, a group of PhD students from GREEN CDT (Growing Reliable Economic Energy from nuclear Centre for Doctoral Training) visited Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum to deliver numerous exciting activities for young people and adults, themed around different aspects of nuclear science, as part of a “Get Curious!” museum event. With over 300 guests passing through the activities in total, it’s safe to say an impression was made on the future (and older) generations when it comes to nuclear science!

We delivered four activities in total, each representing a different aspect / branch of the nuclear fuel cycle, from fuel enrichment all the way to working in hazardous environments and decommissioning. Carry on reading to find out exactly what we did!

Activity One: Uranium Enrichment

Aiming to teach young people (and parents!) about enriching uranium for use in nuclear fuel, we created a hands-on activity for all ages which involved hundreds of plastic balls and a ball pit! Participants had to separate U-235 and U-238 (or rather, green and purple balls) to mimic the mining and enrichment process of U-235 for use in nuclear power stations. Once “U-235” had been collected, it was then put atop a set of scales to light up a lamp! This was to show the journey uranium fuel goes on from the ground (ball-pit!) to powering our homes and cities (lamp!). The activity was generally well received, and the young people loved the excitement of trying to “mine” as much U-235 as they could within 10 seconds – also triggering some healthy competition between friends and siblings!

Activity Two: Nuclear Fuel Cycle

To teach visitors about how nuclear power plants work and the important work scientists do, we created a board-game completely from scratch, with fully functioning electronics to illustrate how our homes are powered by nuclear energy. Players were immersed in the game, and really enjoyed learning about all day-to-day activities nuclear scientists and engineers do to help power their homes. The game itself could be played with up to four players, and the aim was to light up our handmade model village!

Activity Three: Working in Hazardous Environments

In this activity, we wanted to demonstrate how tricky it can be when working in hazardous nuclear environments, whilst adhering to all the stringent safety precautions that are put in place. We set up a replica glovebox, and inside the Perspex screens we placed fiddly activities such as cup-stacking and wooden puzzles. The young people then had to use the big, bulky gloves to try and do all these intricate tasks – they all enjoyed the challenge of completing the tasks and appreciated how much more difficult it is with extra safety measures such as an industrial glovebox. This was also an excellent opportunity for us to explain the importance of having such intense safety requirements, especially in a nuclear environment!

Activity Four: Robots in Decommissioning

In nuclear decommissioning, it is important to keep humans out of harm’s way, particularly in extremely irradiated environments. In many of these situations, the industry utilises robotics and AI to do some tasks for us, to spare humans from an unnecessary dosage of nuclear radiation when carrying on simple tasks. We thought this would make a great activity to show young people how we can utilise robotics to keep ourselves safe, and it’s safe to say that our “robots” were very well received. The aim of the task was to guide a “robot” around a small maze (tape on the floor!) to locate and retrieve small “nuclear waste” products. Participants loved playing with the robots, and this activity always had a big crowd of spectators!

Altogether, our four activities combined gave a great overview and introduction to plenty of different aspects of nuclear science and technology, whilst also ensuring maximum fun was had! After each activity had been completed, we gave them a colour coded stamp on specially designed “nuclear passports”, which could then be converted into the ultimate form of currency – sweets and lollipops, and a little bit of pride.