AIKEN, S.C. — Trick-or-treaters in downtown Aiken got a side of nuclear science Saturday, Oct. 17, as the SRS Heritage Foundation staged its fourth Fall Fission Fest.
The event moved this year from its old spot, a lot at The Mill on Park, and set up instead along the shaded parkway on Park Avenue S.W., just east of Laurens Street. That puts it a short walk from the Savannah River Site Museum at 224 Laurens St. S.W.
Children in costumes handled Geiger counters at several stops. At one table, kids spun a wheel to land on a field that relies on radiation, such as medicine, space, energy or industry, and a volunteer walked them through how it is used there. At another, a Savannah River Nuclear Solutions volunteer ran an old Civil Defense counter over a piece of orange Fiesta dinnerware to show how a uranium glaze registers.
Many of the helpers were current workers and retirees from the site, along with newly hired engineers. The Savannah River Site, a federal nuclear cleanup complex, employs more than 11,000 people and is the biggest economic driver in Aiken County.
The festival came during a season when the region stretches its Nuclear Science Week observance across September, October and November with local learning events.
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