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Presentation

Unit of Reactors and Nuclear Safety

Last update 07-05-2012

The Portuguese Research Reactor (RPI), of the Unit of Reactors and Nuclear Safety (URNS), as a unique facility in the Iberian Peninsula offers access to its infrastructures to scientists inside and outside ITN. In the years 1999-2002, foreign users from Universities and Research Laboratories accounted for 10-20% of the total irradiation time of the RPI.

The versatility of the RPI reveals itself in the large variety of activities that can be performed in areas such as: nuclear physics, neutron physics, nuclear engineering, condensed matter physics, radiochemistry, agronomy, biologic effects of radiations, effects of radiations on materials, investigation with short half-life radio-isotopes, education and training.

1. Research Activity Groups

This organic unit comprises three groups of activity:

  • 1.1. Operation and Exploitation of RPI: the safe operation of the reactor itself and the related services (reactor dosimetry, radiological protection and neutronic calculations) are the main objectives of this group. The activities of the group members are complemented by their active participation in the installation and operation of new experimental devices (fast and epithermal neutron beam, emission channeling etc.).
  • 1.2. Applied Dynamics Laboratory: is devoted to research in nuclear engineering, with an emphasis in the vibratory and acoustic behaviour of mechanical components. Despite its small size, the group maintains active collaborations with Universities and Research Laboratories both in Portugal and abroad.
  • 1.3. Neutron Activation in Environment, Nutrition and Epidemiology:  is the main user of the reactor, accounting for 40% of the total irradiation time. This group also makes an important bridge with the Unit of Physics and Accelerators, complementing the NAA work done in the Reactor with PIXE in the Van de Graaff accelerator. The group has a large number of graduate students and performs several services by contract.

2. Equipment and Devices

The main facility of URSN is the research reactor (RPI) itself with the following characteristics:

  • Type: Open core pool-type reactor
  • Power: max. 1 MWth
  • Fuel: MTR type fuel elements with U-Al-alloy
  • Moderator: Water
  • Cooling: Water

The reactor provides the following irradiation devices:

  • Irradiation devices installed in the core grid, with well characterized neutron flux in each position.
  • Rabbit system, permits irradiation of samples during time periods until one hour, with automatic storage in shielded cells.
  • Thermal Column, consists of a stacking of graphite blocks. It is intended for experiments that require a neutron spectrum highly thermalized.
  • Irradiation tubes, permit to obtain neutron beams for experimental devices placed outside of the reactor pool, for example, neutron diffraction spectrometers.
  • Gamma irradiation chamber, in the chamber next to the larger pool compartment it is possible to perform irradiations with gamma radiation from irradiated fuel elements.

The following experimental setups are in operation or under construction:

  • Fast Neutron irradiation facility, installed in one of the irradiation tubes. Allows to irradiate samples in a cylindrical cavity, 100 cm long and 15 cm wide.
  • Epithermal Neutron irradiation facility, installed in one of the irradiation tubes. Delivers a neutron beam in which the epithermal vs. fast component ratio is maximized. The facility provides neutron beams with 2 and 5 cm diameter, with the possibility of leaving or eliminating the thermal component with a Cd filter.
  • Time-of-Flighty neutron diffractometer (ETV), dedicated to the training of students.
  • Two-axis neutron diffractometer (DIDE), equipped with a multidetector and a HOPG focusing monochromator.
  • Small Angle Neutron Scattering Instrument (EPA) Setup, equipped with converging multichannel collimation for neutrons (under construction).
  • Emission Channeling Using Neutron Induced Reactions, device to study the structural properties of single crystalline materials using the channeling effect of charged particles produced in neutron induced reactions (under construction).

3. Technical Services

The research reactor is available to users five days a week, from 09h00 to 24h00, and provides:

  • Support to setup the experiments;
  • Characterization of radiation fields in the experimental areas;
  • Irradiations of samples in various irradiation devices;
  • Production of radioisotopes;
  • Detailed information on the irradiation conditions is available on request from URNS.

Potential users are requested to contact URNS giving details on the intended experiments / irradiations.

Other Services

  • Visit each research activity group indicated above for specialized offers.