REPORT FOR ANALYSTS

The radioisotope storage room at the University of Michigan is seen through a 3 foot thick window. The facilities and equipment at Michigan are relatively extensive compared to most universities

courses where given or by apprent ic ing himself to someone working in the field. The" apprent ice t ra ining, how­ever, is generally limited to work with a few tracers such as C14 r a the r t han an acqua in tance with the over-all field.

There has been lit t le progress in establishing univers i ty l abora tory courses in the pas t decade. T h e Oak Ridge Ins t i tu t e , with i ts one-mon th handl ing course, has been t h e largest producer of t ra ined personnel . Labora to ry courses are being given a t the Massachuse t t s In s t i t u t e of Tech­nology, Rensselaer Polytechnic I n ­s t i tu te , t he Univers i ty of Illinois, Univers i ty of Michigan, and a few other places. Some universit ies have specialized g radua t e courses for nu­clear chemists.

In m a n y cases re luctance to es­tablish a labora tory course m a y be based on the idea t h a t there is a lot of work involved.

If t racer work were incorporated a t the advanced underg radua te level, s tuden ts would accept this technique as a rout ine me thod ra ther t h a n a "freak." Assay of v i t amin B12 by the isotope dilution me thod is a good example. Complete coverage of t h e field of t racer work could be given to g radua te s tuden ts and some seniors. At this stage it is important t ha t the s tuden t be in t roduced to a var i ­e ty of techniques. Overemphasis on easily set up experiments, such as measurements , should be avoided. The nuclear aspects are sometimes overemphasized a t the expense of appreciat ion for t racer problems.

Typical Course. At the Univers i ty of Michigan a nuclear chemical tech­

niques course has been given for six years . One object is to give s tuden ts a sufficiently broad background in nuclear and t racer techniques so t h a t they can get radioisotopes from the Atomic Energy Commission. I t is designed to serve not only chemists, bu t · biochemists, zoologists, pha rma­cologists, chemical engineers, nuclear engineers, physicists, and others . Of the 80 s tuden ts who have t aken the course, only a small percentage have been nuclear chemists .

T h e course consists of one hour of lecture and four hours of l abora tory a week. The schedule consists of roughly five p a r t s : th ree weeks each on counting experiments , weak β-emit t ing mater ia ls such as C14, inor­ganic separat ions such as precipita­tion, ion exchange, and solvent ex­t ract ion, t racer experiments such as exchange ra tes and solubility product de terminat ion , and high level experi­ments including act ivat ion analysis with por table neu t ron sources, work with por table lead " c a v e s " in a hood, and work in glove boxes. P lans are

Argonne National Laboratory has ex­tensive facilities for training in the field of radiochemistry

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Carl Schleicher & Schuell Co. Keene, New Hampshire · Dept. A-97

Circle No. 21 A on Readers' Service Card, page 99 A

V O L . 29, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 1957 · 2 1 A