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.