• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

Advanced Test Reactor

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is the world's premier test reactor. Located in the RTC, it is used to study the effects of high radiation on metals and reactor components and to produce as radioisotopes for pharmaceutical, medical and industrial uses. Originally built to improve nuclear reactors, it continues to fulfill that function in the development of the next generation of reactors.

It serves the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program in research to improve the safety and efficiency of nuclear reactors used on warships and submarines. However, on April 23, 2007 the DOE designated the ATR as a National Scientific User Facility (NSUF) in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005; thus, allowing universities, laboratories, and industry to utilize the ATR for basic and applied nuclear research and development. The ATR User Facility offers advanced nuclear fuels and material testing as well as post-irradiation examination. In 2008, four university-led teams planned to perform nuclear materials research experiments. The DOE provided $15 million in 2007 for the purchase and installation of post-irradiation examination equipment between 2007 and 2009 to study experimental nuclear fuels following ATR irradiation.

ATR has a unique four-leave-clover core design with a serpentine fuel arrangement that creates nine high-intensity, main test spaces and several smaller test spaces. It has been compared to a time machine because, with its intense concentration of neutrons called "high flux," it can create the effect of years of radiation in a commercial nuclear reactor in days, weeks, or months. It is also the only materials test reactor in the U.S. that is capable of running multiple tests simultaneously with different reactor environments. Tests at the ATR are run in cycles averaging six to eight weeks. Following a test, the reactor is shut down and its fuel is replaced before it is returned to operating power for a new experiment. In January 2001 the ATR set a record of 57 days of continuous full power operation.

Several facilities are used in conjunction with the ATR.

• The Advanced Test Reactor Critical (ATRC) Facility, a full-size, low-power, pool-type nuclear replica of the ATR, is located in an extension of the ATR canal. Designed to evaluate experiments prior to their actualization in the ATR, the ATRC is used to experimentally determine the effect of an experiment on core reactivity.

• The ATR Canal temporarily stores completed experiments and used fuel. It also has facilities to conduct underwater operations such as experiment examination or removal.

• The Gamma Facility, which is basically a 12.7-cm tube that projects from the spent fuel rack to the top of the canal, is used for gamma irradiation experiments.

• The Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), which is located at the Material and Fuels Complex, is a three-story building with two adjacent, shielded hot cells that is designed to allow highly irradiated fuel and structural material to be characterized remotely. It is capable of both nondestructive and destructive examination and has a Neutron Radiography Reactor (NRAD), a Training Research Isotope General Atomics (TRIGA) reactor.