> ...but at that time we were mostly worried about whether the reactor was still working. That is, was it generating short-lived radioactive isotopes...
> ...the most precise information about the state of the reactor was gathered from the ratio of short-lived and long-lived isotopes of iodium 134 and 131. Then, by making radiochemistry measurements quite quickly we established that no short-lived iodium isotopes were being produced and hence the reactor was not operational and was in sub-critical state.
I wonder where and how they were able to do the radiochemical measurements so quickly - did the facility have that sort of capability on-site, or were samples repeatedly flown to a research institute that had the appropriate gamma spectroscopy equipment to analyze?
- a good supply of passive SMT books from the usual suppliers (mainly the "notebook" style ones with cut tape in the pages)
- various larger SMT & PTH parts, connectors, switches, etc in modular parts boxes (Eclipse Tools #900-041 mainly; larger in #900-039). These boxes stack nicely, are adjustable, are pretty cheap, and can be found at Microcenter (though ordering direct from Eclipse Tools is cheaper in quantity). I keep things in them in ESD or small zip bags, with those labeled as they get allocated. I try to keep each box assigned to a type of component then label the front of them ("Toggle Switches", "Motor+Stepper Ctrl", "Gaskets & O-Rings").
- even larger parts end up in plastic boxes from IRIS or IKEA, in 3 standardized sizes.
Key to this plan was buying bins in bulk (qty 10 or 20 pcs minimum) since they store well empty, can be used as replacements when lids/bases break, and inventory always tends to grow. Plus, wire shelving is easy when everything is standardized... "buy once, cry once" and you can't count on the same cheap bin being available in 10 years when current extras are out.
Starting to look into setting up a database tool to keep track of stock - partsbox, inventree, google form+sheet, ??? - but not there yet.