Australian Atomic Energy Commission

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HIFAR reactor at Lucas Heights, 1958 Nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights.jpg
HIFAR reactor at Lucas Heights, 1958

The Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) was a statutory body of the Australian government.

It was established in 1952, replacing the Atomic Energy Policy Committee. In 1981 parts of the Commission were split off to become part of CSIRO, the remainder continuing until 1987, when it was replaced by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). The Commission head office was in the heritage-listed house Cliffbrook in Coogee, Sydney, New South Wales, [1] while its main facilities were at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Lucas Heights, to the south of Sydney, established in 1958.

Highlights of the Commission's history included:

Other significant facilities constructed by the Commission at Lucas Heights included a 3MeV Van de Graaff particle accelerator, installed in 1964 to provide proton beams and now upgraded to become ANTARES, a smaller 1.3MeV betatron, and radioisotope production and remote handling facilities associated with HIFAR reactor.

Significant research work included:

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References

  1. "Cliffbrook". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H00609. Retrieved 2 June 2018. CC BY icon.svg Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence .
  2. A. W. Pryor, Personal memories of two advanced uranium enrichment projects at Lucas Heights in the years 1972-1980, The Australian & New Zealand Physicist33 (3-4), 53-58 (1997).
  3. F. J. Duarte, Tunable lasers for atomic vapor laser isotope separation: the Australian contribution, Australian Physics47(2), 38-40 (2010) Archived 2015-02-21 at the Wayback Machine .