QUIRKY WORLD ... Sticky situation at nuclear reactor fixed with Blu Tack

Scotland:  A team tasked with decommissioning a nuclear reactor had a simple, sticky solution for taking samples from its core — Blu Tack.

Workers at Dounreay had to take samples of metal from holes drilled into the base of the prototype fast reactor (PFR). They attached Blu Tack to the end of a long, flexible rod, and inserted it 10m into the reactor core, thereby saving the cost of developing a specialist tool for the job.

Samples of the metal stuck to the Blu Tack and were collected for analysis.