Schenectady

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the casino rising in Schenectady are separated by about 17 miles.

But at least for now the $480 million project on Erie Boulevard and the engineering school in Troy are linked because of a low-power nuclear research reactor RPI owns on the southern bank of the Mohawk River where Rivers Casino & Resort is being built.

The white concrete building sits on the shore above the entrance to the man-made harbor that casino operator Rush Street Gaming hopes will lure boaters to the sprawling entertainment complex.

Walthousen Reactor Critical Facility has been on the land since the now-defunct American Locomotive Company constructed the 30-foot high building where the reactor is located in 1956. Eight years later, RPI took over the operations of the facility for research and classroom instruction for its Department of Nuclear Engineering and Science.

The reactor poses little risk to the public. It is only powerful enough to generate 15 watts of power for research, not enough to illuminate a light bulb, a common refrain uttered by casino executives, local developers and RPI officials.

Still, Mayor Gary McCarthy has said he would like to see it decommissioned.

The future of the reactor, which generated little attention before the site was chosen for a casino, is being evaluated by RPI.

Allison Newman, an associate vice president at RPI, said last week the school is conducting a "comprehensive review and evaluation of its current use of the facility and our future educational research needs."

She said some of the factors the school is weighing include how often it is used for teaching and research, how many professors, researchers and students use it, its future usefulness for the school and the safety and security of the surrounding community.

"We're exploring other venues, including the LINAC (linear accelerator) that was recently in the news," Newman said, referring to the school's Gaerttner LINAC Center which recently received a nearly $9.5 million grant from the federal Department of Energy to help pay for upgrades the will make school it a major player when it comes to advanced technology for measuring neutron interactions with nuclear materials.

Newman said there is no timetable for the analysis to be completed and that "it's going to take as long as it's going to take" for the university to finish its evaluation. She could not say how often the research lab is used by staff and students. "There is no cause for concern over the many years we've operated this facility and we don't anticipate that changing," she said.

RPI's research reactor is the only one of its kind in New York and one of about 30 in operation around the country, according to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that regulates reactors.

"They are used primarily by students and faculty to carry out experiments, those experiments are carefully controlled and these research reactors utilize nuclear material that is in far lesser quantities than would be used at commercial nuclear power plants," he said.

RPI and the others entities that operate reactors have to follow the federal security requirements, he said, adding the commission periodically sends security specialists to examine the programs and those who have access to the facilities. He said they also inspect the "safety of the research reactor itself."

"We have not identified any concerns about the safety or security of that (RPI) reactor and as such the public should not be concerned about its operation," Sheehan said.

McCarthy referred questions about the reactor to Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen recently. But in past public comments, he has called for it to be shut down, saying the site would be better off with it gone.

Ray Gillen said he has been inside the Walthousen lab and agrees with Sheehan's assertion that the facility is safe. His agency oversees development of the casino and other projects in Schenectady County.

There is support on the RPI campus to keep the reactor active.

Nicholas Thompson, an RPI doctoral student in nuclear engineering and science, is one of its supporters. He started a change.org petition 11 months ago called Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Don't Shut Down RPI's Nuclear Reactor!

As of late last week, 175 had signed onto it, including from Matt Wall of Niskayuna with a post that read: "The casino is far more harmful than a little radioactivity."

Thompson declined to be interviewed for this story, but he issued a statement:

"The Walthousen Reactor Critical Facility is an important education and research tool for the Nuclear Engineering program at Rensselaer," he stated. "I support the continued operation of the facility, as do many students and alumni who have interacted with the facility."

Dave Buicko, chief operation officer with Rotterdam-based Galesi Group, which owns the land where the casino complex is being built, said construction is moving ahead around the reactor property. In the past, Buicko has suggested the squat structure could be decorated to resemble a lighthouse.

"They've (RPI) been there since we've acquired the property, they own it, and we're working around it," he said.

Rush Street Gaming of Chicago declined comment.

Lt. Mark McCracken, a Schenectady Police Department spokesman, said that while RPI's security staff is mostly responsible for ensuring the safety of the facility, city cops are the first responders if the alarm at the building is activated.

"It's in the city and we do on occasion drive by and check on it," he said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the NRC mandated that owners and operators of reactors across the nation beef up security, ordering greater screening of personnel and better coordination between the Federal Aviation Administration and law enforcement over suspicious flights, threats and vehicle and package inspections.

Over the years, a few schools, like Cornell University, have decommissioned research reactors.

In 2001, Cornell announced plans to decommission the TRIGA Mark II nuclear reactor and phase out activities at the Ward Center for Nuclear Sciences, where the reactor was housed. The small, 500-kilowatt reactor was used for research and teaching. Back then, the university it estimated the cost to be just over $4 million and said the decision to decommission the reactor was being made because relicensing by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was scheduled for 2002-03, and the reactor was not being used as much.

Speaking in general terms, Sheehan said the protocol to decommission a site would entail removing the nuclear fuel or materials used for the experiments and then conducting radiological surveys to ensure no residual contamination is left behind.

"Once we declare it free for release for unrestricted use, then it would be up to the university as far as to what it would want to do with the structure," he said.

Gillen said RPI has been cooperated with construction of Rivers Casino and Resort at Mohawk Harbor.

"They helped us and accommodated a lot of our requests to provide different easements and access to their site," he said adding the Galesi Group even swapped some land with RPI so the harbor could be constructed.

"There are ongoing discussions about the future of the facility," Gillen said. "They've made every possible accommodation so that development of the $480 million Mohawk Harbor can go forward. But as to the future of the facility, those discussions continue."

pnelson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5347 • @apaulnelson