Ph.D. student Celia Oney works at OSU’s Radiation Center while simultaneously earning her degree in the history and philosophy of science
Celia Oney
By Colin Bowyer, Communications Manager - May 26, 2024
Celia Oney, M.A. ‘21, has worked with nuclear reactors for more than a decade, but she doesn’t have a STEM background or hold a degree in nuclear engineering.
Oney, a student in the history and philosophy of science Ph.D. program, first began working with nuclear technology while an undergraduate student at Reed College. Oney majored in classics, but it was the student-run reactor at Reed that caught her attention. Before graduating from Reed in 2011, Oney was licensed as a senior reactor operator, gaining a technical understanding of the uranium-fueled reactor, as well as a historical, theoretical, and ethical perspective of nuclear energy from her degree in classics.
“I was always very interested in math and science as a young adult,” explained Oney. “But classics allowed me to explore my enthusiasm for languages and history, which was a nice complement to my time at the Reed reactor.”
After Reed, Celia started working at OSU’s Radiation Center as a full-time reactor supervisor, as well as toward her master’s degree at OSU, diving more into nuclear history and philosophy. Her qualitative thesis examined the decommissioning process of three reactors in the Pacific Northwest: OSU’s first reactor in 1980, the Hanford Site in southeast Washington, and the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in northwest Oregon. Her findings suggested that the people who utilized, funded, or opposed these sites all saw inherent connections between nuclear research, atomic weapons, and nuclear power.
Now, Oney is earning her doctoral degree with a thesis topic focusing on an unusual group of nuclear history.
“During my archival research for my master’s thesis,” Oney explained. “I kept reading and seeing images of Catholic Americans, specifically Catholic Sisters and Nuns, interacting with nuclear technology, including voicing their opposition to nuclear weapons manufacturing, as well as being trained as radiation monitors during the Cold War. In my dissertation, I’m examining the range of ways Catholic Sisters and Nuns interacted with nuclear technology and how those pursuits fit within their religious commitments.”
While Oney completes her dissertation over the next few years, she will continue to work at OSU’s uranium-powered reactor. Built in 1967, the four-story tall, non-electricity producing reactor generates one megawatt of heat and is used for a variety of research projects submitted by researchers (mostly geologists, Oney pointed out) on and off campus. A “frequent flier” is anthropology professor Leah Minc, who uses the reactor to help do trace-element analysis of pottery and ceramics.
Oney’s role as reactor supervisor is responsible for training and regulatory programs, both classroom and hands-on components, for students and researchers who wish to work or use the reactor. She credits her classes and research during the M.A. and Ph.D. program to providing her with a unique perspective.
“I tend to think of the reactor as an artifact,” explained Oney. “Studying the history and philosophy of nuclear technology helps me to understand the context of a nuclear reaction happening within the reactor at the Radiation Center. Essentially, my studies inform my full-time job.”
Oney will be defending her thesis in a couple of years and plans to continue working at the Radiation Center. Her dream project is to one-day create a narrative history of OSU’s reactor.