Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
2002 International RERTR Meeting

LEU-FUELLED SLOWPOKE-2 RESEARCH REACTORS:
OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND UTILISATION

G. Kennedy and J. St. Pierre

Nuclear Engineering Institute, EcolePolytechnique
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

L.G.I. Bennett and K.S. Nielsen

SLOWPOKE-2 Facility at Royal Military College
Kingston, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited designed the SLOWPOKE-2 research reactor [1] based on experience with the SLOWPOKE-1 prototype, which operated for four years at the University of Toronto. Between 1976 and 1984, seven SLOWPOKE-2 reactors with HEU fuel were commissioned in six Canadian cities and in Kingston, Jamaica. They use 93% enriched uranium in the form of 28% uranium-aluminum alloy with aluminum cladding. The core is an assembly of about 300 fuel pins, only 22 cm diameter and 23 cm high, surrounded by a fixed beryllium annulus and a bottom beryllium slab. Criticality is maintained by adding beryllium plates in a tray on top of the core. A schematic drawing of the core with irradiation sites is shown in Figure I.

---

---