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This view looks down on the fuel rods at Penn State's Breazeale Reactor. The reactor is a TRIGA model manufactured by General Atomics. The blue light surrounding the fuel is known as Cherenkov radiation, produced when charged particles travel through matter (in this case, water) at speeds greater than light. Penn State University is the site of the first licensed reactor.
Sources: the Penn State Radiation Science and Engineering Center.
Radiation Science & Engineering Center