Scouts Get Hands-On Lesson In Nuclear Science

Editor's Note: The following is a news release issued by Lawrence Township Boy Scout Troop 28.

Five boy scouts from Troop 28, Lawrence Township, spent March 24 in the shadow of a Salem Nuclear Plant in order to earn a special merit badge.

Sponsored by PSEG and held at the PSE&G power plant in Salem, the Nuclear Science Merit Badge event was attended by more than 80 boy scouts from New Jersey and Delaware. Troop 28 Scouts are among the first to participate in the half-day workshop near the Salem Plant. 

Attending were Grant Gallagher, Cody Anderson, Noah Hotz, Garrett Monfre and Jack Wagner, all of Lawrence. 

Among the activities of the day were lessons on the periodic table of elements, where the scouts were instructed to build the structure of their element out of colored marshmallows, representing proton, neutron or electron; a tour of a simulated control room, a radiation detection exercise; and decontamination and safety exercises. 

“The nuclear science merit badge was so cool,” Grant Gallagher, 13, enthused. “We got to make clouds out of isopropyl alcohol sitting on dry ice. I was picked as a volunteer to help out the instructor at doing it, and I was supposed to keep the cork with an alpha emitter in place. We got to watch the alpha particles make trails in the clouds.”

Troop 28 is open to boys who have completed fifth grade, and meets Friday nights from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Troop Cabin at . Boys need not have been involved in Scouting to join.

For information, visit http://lawrence28.mytroop.us/contact or email Scoutmaster Bob Murawski at Bmurawski360@comcast.net.