Project Pluto was a United States government program to develop nuclear-powered ramjet engines for use in cruise missiles. Two experimental engines were tested at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in 1961 and 1964 respectively.
The pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a design for a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor. It is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative.
A fast-neutron reactor (FNR) or fast-spectrum reactor or simply a fast reactor is a category of nuclear reactor in which the fission chain reaction is sustained by fast neutrons, as opposed to slow thermal neutrons used in thermal-neutron reactors. Such a fast reactor needs no neutron moderator, but requires fuel that is relatively rich in fissile material when compared to that required for a thermal-neutron reactor. Around 20 land based fast reactors have been built, accumulating over 400 reactor years of operation globally. The largest was the Superphénix sodium cooled fast reactor in France that was designed to deliver 1,242 MWe. Fast reactors have been studied since the 1950s, as they provide certain advantages over the existing fleet of water-cooled and water-moderated reactors. These are:
The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses normal water, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator; furthermore a solid form of fissile elements is used as fuel. Thermal-neutron reactors are the most common type of nuclear reactor, and light-water reactors are the most common type of thermal-neutron reactor.
PLUTO was a materials testing nuclear reactor housed at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, a former Royal Air Force airfield at Harwell, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom.
A molten-salt reactor (MSR) is a class of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary nuclear reactor coolant and/or the fuel is a mixture of molten salt with a fissionable material.
A swimming pool reactor, also called an open pool reactor, is a type of nuclear reactor that has a core immersed in an open pool usually of water.
A high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) is a type of gas-cooled nuclear reactor which use uranium fuel and graphite moderation to produce very high reactor core output temperatures. All existing HTGR reactors use helium coolant. The reactor core can be either a "prismatic block" or a "pebble-bed" core. China Huaneng Group currently operates HTR-PM, a 250 MW HTGR power plant in Shandong province, China.
The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is a nuclear research reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Operating at 85 MW, HFIR is one of the highest flux reactor-based sources of neutrons for condensed matter physics research in the United States, and it has one of the highest steady-state neutron fluxes of any research reactor in the world. The thermal and cold neutrons produced by HFIR are used to study physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, and biology. The intense neutron flux, constant power density, and constant-length fuel cycles are used by more than 500 researchers each year for neutron scattering research into the fundamental properties of condensed matter. HFIR has about 600 users each year for both scattering and in-core research.
The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is a research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, located east of Arco, Idaho. This reactor was designed and is used to test nuclear fuels and materials to be used in power plants, naval propulsion, research and advanced reactors. It can operate at a maximum thermal power of 250 MW and has a "Four Leaf Clover" core design that allows for a variety of testing locations. The unique design allows for different neutron flux conditions in various locations. Six of the test locations allow an experiment to be isolated from the primary cooling system, providing its own environment for temperature, pressure, flow and chemistry, replicating the physical environment while accelerating the nuclear conditions.
The Systems Nuclear Auxiliary POWER (SNAP) program was a program of experimental radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and space nuclear reactors flown during the 1960s by NASA.
The Oregon State University Radiation Center (OSURC) is a research facility that houses a nuclear reactor at Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The Oregon State TRIGA Reactor (OSTR) serves the research needs of the OSU nuclear engineering department along with other departments.
The University of Florida Training Reactor (UFTR), commissioned in 1959, is a 100 kW modified Argonaut-type reactor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It is a light water and graphite moderated, graphite reflected, light water cooled reactor designed and used primarily for training and nuclear research related activities. The reactor is licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is the only research reactor in Florida.
Universities Research Reactor, also known as Universities' Research Reactor or University Research Reactor, was a small Argonaut class nuclear research reactor in Risley, Warrington, England that went critical on 7 July 1964. It was jointly owned and operated by Manchester and Liverpool universities and used for performing neutron activation work and training reactor operators.
ETRR-2 or ET-RR-2, or is the second nuclear reactor in Egypt supplied by the Argentine company Investigacion Aplicada (INVAP) in 1992. The reactor is owned and operated by Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) at the Nuclear Research Center in Inshas, 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast of Cairo.
The Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) is an air-cooled, graphite moderated, thermal spectrum test nuclear reactor designed to test reactor fuels and structural materials. Constructed in 1958, and operated from 1959 until 1994, TREAT was built to conduct transient reactor tests where the test material is subjected to neutron pulses that can simulate conditions ranging from mild transients to reactor accidents. TREAT was designed by Argonne National Laboratory, and is located at the Idaho National Laboratory. Since original construction, the facility had additions or systems upgrades in 1963, 1972, 1982, and 1988. The 1988 addition was extensive, and included upgrades of most of the instrumentation and control systems.
An organic nuclear reactor, or organic cooled reactor (OCR), is a type of nuclear reactor that uses some form of organic fluid, typically a hydrocarbon substance like polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), for cooling and sometimes as a neutron moderator as well.
Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR) was a research reactor located at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, on Long Island, approximately 60 miles east of New York City. The BGRR operated from 1950 until 1968 and has been fully decommissioned.
The High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) was a research reactor located at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, on Long Island, approximately 60 miles east of New York City. A successor to the Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor, the HFBR operated from 1965 until 1996 and has been partially decommissioned.
Medical Research Reactor (MRR) was a research reactor which was located at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, on Long Island, approximately 60 miles east of New York City. The second of three reactors constructed at BNL, the MRR operated from 1959 until 2000 and has been partially decommissioned.
