Do not enter! Radiation!

Particle accelerators found on the outskirts of a big chemical plant.

Almost every big factory has at least one abandoned building. The reasons for people leaving such places can be different. The technology used could have become no longer in demand because it was replaced by more efficient methods, an accident could have occurred, the consequences of which could not be eliminated, or a much less prosaic thing could have happened: funding stopped, and ambitious projects promoting science had to be abandoned.

The chemical plant, one of whose buildings we are going to talk about today, is engaged in the research and synthesis of organic substances. The building from my post was used for scientific purposes.

It's worth starting with the laboratories. Here the studying substances were prepared for further X-Ray treatment.

The place is now in a terrible mess. The walls are crumbling, and the ceiling is collapsing.

Some more pictures of rotten desks.

Gutted devices.

Let's go up the stairs to the technical floor.

Although the building itself is small, the ventilation system takes up two rooms.

Such a cabinet with a lot of mega-power pulse capacitors (5-6 kV and 100 uF) powered the particle accelerators, which were under it. One such capacitor could pierce the plywood with its discharge, it is difficult to imagine what several batteries of them could do! A kilovolt meter with ten-digit scale divisions was displayed on the door of the cabinet.

We go into one of the rooms, where radiation is waiting for us!

There is a technological hole in the hermetic chamber with a cable to the installation. Most likely, it was necessary to stop the reaction in case of emergency.

The process of irradiating targets could be controlled from this control room.

After the hermetic door, a narrow corridor begins, swirling like a snail's shell counterclockwise. It ends with the room with the first particle accelerator. The cyclotron. There, electrons under the influence of the electromagnetic field are spiraled and gathered into a single beam, which is directed to the target.

What was the purpose of this in the first place? In this setup, researchers studied the effect of radiation on a substance. A particular case can be made with polymers. When exposed to ionizing radiation, a polymer will change its structure and form an isomer with new properties.

Above this infernal coffeemaker is a room where targets and all sorts of equipment were loaded into it through a process opening by means of a crane, the guide of which can be seen under the ceiling.

Here is the crane itself.

On the floor and on the racks are remains of some equipment.

 

Now let's go down three floors and look at the warehouse. You can notice spare pulse capacitors and a helium-neon laser.

In the opposite part of the building, the second particle accelerator awaits us. The entrance to it is also protected by a hermetic door.

Here is the linear particle accelerator, also known as LinAc. This type of machine can produce X-rays or electron radiation with energies up to 20 MeV.

In a LinAc, the particle beam is accelerated by passing through a microwave resonator with a high-frequency electric field that accelerates the particles.

Linear particle accelerators allow high speeds of light particles (mainly electrons). They are used to synthesize artificial isotopes or to sterilize food and medical equipment. In this laboratory, the accelerator could also be used to study the effects of beta or X-rays on chemical processes.

After receiving our daily dose of radiation, we leave this laboratory complex.

Until we meet again!