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about

Binaural: use headphones

This composition is the result of four years of research in the sonification of nuclear reactions which began with the residency at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and the collaboration with the Nuclear Security Unit in 2018-2019 and continued with a course of studies on nuclear energy of MITx and various certifications of the IAEA on the recognition, cataloging and detection of radioactive substances.

The AGN-201M is a nuclear fission reactor for research and operator training at the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Thanks to the collaboration of Chief Reactor Supervisor Carl Willis, the composer obtained an audio recording of the neutron flux, during the start-up of the reactor.

This recording was used in MaxMSP as a control signal for a Yamaha DS7X ENPRO grand-tail disklavier which was prepared with four different setups for four tracks then spatialized in an octophonic environment on SPAT.

At the beginning of the track inside the reactor there are neutrons created by the spontaneous fission of the Uranium 235 fuel, as the safety rods are raised, the reactor reaches the critical stage and the flux of neutrons generated by the reaction increases dramatically. This flow of particles is recorded through neutron detectors and is used as one of several reactor status reading systems.

The neutrons generated by fission are therefore the stochastic material of the first part of the piece. In the second part, the prepared piano leaves room for the sound generated by the computer that reads in real time the data coming from a gamma spectroscope which analyses the gamma rays’ energies coming from four typical isotopes byproducts of nuclear fission: Europium 152, Cobalt 60, Barium 133 and Sodium 22.

The isotopes were obtained from the Oakridge National Laboratory and analised by the composer through a sodium and thallium scintillator and a special spectroscopy software created by the composer on MaxMSP.
The piece thus immerses the listeners in the processes of nuclear energy as if they were inside the reactor.

credits

released May 4, 2023
Written and recorded by Giorgio Sancristoforo, in Milan, Italy on January 2022
Neutron Flux recordings by Carl Willis, licensed in CC by the University of New Mexico Nuclear Engineering Department

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Giorgio Sancristoforo Milano, Italy

Giorgio Sancristoforo is a sound artist, teacher, software developer, author and esotericist born in Italy in 1974. He's a member of the Prisma International Composers' Group and expert artist of the European Commission.

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