Progress in Developing Research-Reactor Technology for Canadian and International Applications

Abstract

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) continues to develop multipurpose research reactor technology to meet Canadian and international requirements into the next millennium. Considerable progress has been made in refining the concept for a new Canadian Irradiation Research Facility (IRF) that will underpin the evolutionary development of CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) technology and generate neutrons for basic and applied materials science. Additionally, an IRF-based standardized MAPLE research centre is being developed with various reactor-core options to meet international needs for neutron-beam research plus ancillary isotope production (a 15-MWt19-site core), for multipurpose materials testing plus neutron-beam applications (a 30-MWt 31-site core), and high-flux neutron-beam plus materials-testing applications (a 30 to 40-MWt complex core with twin 18-site core segments).