Argonne Fast Source Reactor

Argonne Fast Source Reactor (AFSR) was a research reactor which was located at the Argonne National Laboratory, a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, facility located in the high desert of southeastern Idaho between Idaho Falls, Idaho and Arco, Idaho.

History

The Argonne Fast Source Reactor was a tool used to calibrate instruments and to study fast reactor physics, augmenting the Zero Power Plutonium Reactor (ZPPR) research program. Located at Argonne-West, this low-power reactor—designed to operate at a power of only one kilowatt—contributed to an improvement in the techniques and instruments used to measure experimental data.[1]

The AFSR was designed to supplement the existing facilities of the Idaho Division of Argonne National Laboratory. It was designed as a readily available source of both fast and thermal neutrons for use as follows:[2]

  • developing, testing, calibrating, and standardizing various counters;
  • preparation of radioactive metallic foils used in the development of counting and radiochemical techniques;
  • checking out complex experimental systems before operation in other reactors;
  • and development of potential experiments in the fast reactor field.[2]

In the fall of 1970, this reactor was moved to a new location adjacent to the ZPPR facility at the ANL West site of the NRTS.[2]

The reactor started up on October 29, 1959, and operated through the late 1970s.[1]

Design

AFSR was designed and built in 1958 near EBR-I on the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS). AFSR had a design power of one kilowatt.[2]

Decommissioning

AFSR operated through the late 1970s. The reactor is now shutdown and defueled.[2]

Bibliography

See also

References
  1. https://factsheets.inl.gov/FactSheets/PtP-appendices.pdf Stacy, Susan M. "Proving the Principle – Appendix B: Fifty Years of Reactors at the INEEL". 2000.
  2. "Basic and Applied Science Research Reactors - Reactors designed/built by rgonne National Laboratory". www.ne.anl.gov. Retrieved 22 December 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.


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