To mark 50 years of nuclear science, on 18 April, Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum will screen a special documentary about the history of the Australian nuclear industry and the contribution Australia’s first nuclear research reactor HIFAR (High Flux Australian Reactor) made to Australian science.
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| Powerhouse Museum |
The documentary will screen between 10am – 3pm with a guided tour of permanent exhibition, Nuclear matters at 11am, 1pm and 2pm.
Commissioned by ANSTO to historically document HIFAR’s role and achievements through the voices of some of the staff who worked there and scientists who used the facility, the documentary gives an entertaining and educational insight into what HIFAR delivered for Australia and how it touched peoples lives.
During its lifetime, HIFAR, which has now been shut down and is the process of decommissioning, supplied millions of patient doses of nuclear medicines to Australia, New Zealand and Asia, and allowed cutting-edge nuclear science to take place.
The date of the screening – 18 April – also marks the exact date that HIFAR was officially opened fifty years ago by the Prime Minister Robert Menzies.
For those who wish to explore nuclear science further the Powerhouse Museum also has a permanent exhibition, Nuclear matters, which gives people the chance to really understand what nuclear is all about.
The exhibition is divided into five areas:
- Nuclear basics
- Nuclear in our lives, including nuclear medicines and internal body scanning
- Nuclear sciences
- Nuclear power generation; and
- Nuclear perspectives which includes changes in social attitudes over the last century
Seeing the documentary and exhibition is an ideal opportunity for everyone to learn more about the nuclear industry as they are both presented in an easy to understand and entertaining format.
Published: 08/04/2008