As is tradition, the Department of Nuclear Reactors at FNSPE CTU organizes observations of this magically appearing bluish glow inside our VR-1 training reactor, which is temporarily operating at maximum power. But why does it glow blue? High-energy charged particles move through the reactor’s ultra-pure water faster than light can travel in that medium, and this is precisely how Cherenkov radiation is produced. Simply put, it is an optical equivalent of a supersonic boom — but with light.
