TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) is a class of nuclear research reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics. The design team for TRIGA, which included Edward Teller, was led by the physicist Freeman Dyson.
TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) is a class of nuclear research reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics. The design team for TRIGA, which included Edward Teller, was led by the physicist Freeman Dyson.
TRIGA is a swimming pool reactor that can be installed without a containment building, and is designed for research and testing use by scientific institutions and universities for purposes such as undergraduate and graduate education, private commercial research, non-destructive testing and isotope production.
The TRIGA reactor uses uranium zirconium hydride (UZrH) fuel, which has a large, prompt negative fuel temperature coefficient of reactivity, meaning that as the temperature of the core increases, the reactivity rapidly decreases. Because of this unique feature, it has been safely pulsed at a power of up to 22,000 megawatts. [1] The hydrogen in the fuel is bound in the uranium zirconium hydride crystal structure with a vibrational energy of 0.14eV. [2] When the core is hot, these levels fill and transfer energy to any cooler neutrons making them hot and, therefore, less reactive. TRIGA was originally designed to be fueled with highly enriched uranium, but in 1978 the US Department of Energy launched its Reduced Enrichment for Research Test Reactors program, which promoted reactor conversion to low-enriched uranium fuel. [3] [4]
The TRIGA was developed to be a reactor that, in the words of Edward Teller, "is safe even in the hands of a young graduate student." [5] Teller headed a group of young nuclear physicists in San Diego in the summer of 1956 to design an inherently safe reactor which could not, by its design, suffer from a meltdown. The design was largely the suggestion of Freeman Dyson. The prototype for the TRIGA nuclear reactor (TRIGA Mark I) was commissioned on 3 May 1958 on the General Atomics campus in San Diego and operated until shut down in 1997. It has been designated as a nuclear historic landmark by the American Nuclear Society.
Mark II, Mark III and other variants of the TRIGA design have subsequently been produced, and a total of 33 TRIGA reactors have been installed at locations across the United States. Those that remain operational continue to be upgraded/modernized. [6] A further 33 reactors have been installed in other countries. Many of these installations were prompted by US President Eisenhower's 1953 Atoms for Peace policy, which sought to extend access to nuclear physics to countries in the American sphere of influence. Consequently, TRIGA reactors can be found in a total of 24 countries, including Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Congo, Colombia, England, Finland, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovenia, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.
TRIGA International, a joint venture between General Atomics and CERCA — then a subsidiary of AREVA of France — was established in 1996. Since then, all TRIGA fuel assemblies have been manufactured at CERCA's plant in Romans-sur-Isère, France.
Some of the main competitors to General Atomics in the supply of research reactors are Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) of Korea and INVAP of Argentina.
The TRIGA Power System (TPS) is a proposed small power plant and heat source, based upon the TRIGA reactor and its unique uranium zirconium hydride fuel, with a power output of 64 MWth / 16 MWe. [7] [8]
| Country | City | Name | Type | Status | Thermal Power [kW] | Operation Date | Closure Date | Owner and Operator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Vienna | TRIGA II VIENNA | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 250 | 1962-03-07 | Atomic Institute of the Austrian Universities in Vienna | ||
| Bangladesh | Savar,Dhaka | BTRR, BAEC TRIGA Research Reactor | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 3000 [9] | 1986-09-14 | Atomic Energy Research Establishment (Bangladesh) | ||
| Brazil | Belo Horizonte | TRIGA IPR-R1 | TRIGA Mark I | Operational | 100 | 1960-11-06 | CDTN - Centro de Desenvolvimento de Tecnologia Nuclear | *The expansion to 250 KW is in the licensing process, for which a new refrigeration system has been installed. | |
| Colombia | Bogota | IAN-R1 | TRIGA CONV | Operational | 30 | 1965-01-20 | |||
| Congo, DR of | Kinshasa | TRICO I | TRIGA Mark I | Permanent Shutdown | 50 | 1959-06-06 | 1970 | CREN-K University of Kinshasa | |
| TRICO II | TRIGA Mark II | Extended Shutdown | 1 | 1972-03-24 | CREN-K University of Kinshasa | extended shut down since 2004 [18] | |||
| Finland | Espoo | FIR-1 | TRIGA Mark II | Under Decommissioning | 250 | 1962-03-27 | 2015 | VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland | |
| Germany | Frankfurt am Main | FRF-2 | TRIGA Conv | Decommissioned | 1 | 1977-10-01 | |||
| Heidelberg | TRIGA HD I | TRIGA Mark I | Decommissioned | 250 | 1966-08-01 | ||||
| Hannover | FRH | TRIGA Mark I | Decommissioned | 250 | 1973-01-31 | ||||
| Heidelberg | TRIGA HD II | TRIGA Mark I | Decommissioned | 250 | 1978-02-28 | ||||
| Mainz | FRMZ | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 100 | 1965-08-03 | ||||
| Munich | FRN | TRIGA Mark III | Under Decommissioning | 1 | 1972-08-23 | ||||
| Indonesia | Bandung | TRIGA Mark II, Bandung | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 2 | 1964-10-19 | 2MW installed 1997 | ||
| Yogyakarta | KARTINI-PSTA | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 100 | 1979-01-25 | ||||
| Italy | Rome | TRIGA RC-1 | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 1 | 1960-06-11 | |||
| Pavia | LENA, TRIGA II PAVIA | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 250 | 1965-11-15 | ||||
| Japan | Tōkai, Ibaraki | NSRR | TRIGA Acpr | Operational | 300 | 1975-06-30 | |||
| Yokosuka | TRIGA-II Rikkyo | TRIGA Mark II | Under Decommissioning | 100 | 1961-12-08 | ||||
| Tokyo | Musashi Reactor | TRIGA Mark II | Under Decommissioning | 100 | 1963-01-30 | ||||
| Korea, Republic of | Seoul | KRR-1 | TRIGA Mark II | Decommissioned | 250 | 1962-03-19 | KAERI | Research Reactor,100 kW, built 1962 (Decommissioned)[52] | |
| Seoul | KRR-2 | TRIGA Mark III | Decommissioned | 2 | 1972-04-10 | KAERI | Research Reactor, 2MW, BUILT 1972 (Decommissioned)[53] | ||
| Malaysia | Kajang,Kuala Lumpur | TRIGA Puspati (RTP) | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 1 | 1982-06-28 | Malaysian Institute of Nuclear Technology Research | ||
| Mexico | La Marquesa Ocoyoacac | TRIGA Mark III | TRIGA Mark III | Operational | 1 | 1968-11-08 | National Institute for Nuclear Research | ||
| Morocco | Rabat | MA-R1 | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 2 | 2007-05-02 | |||
| Philippines | Quezon City | PRR-1 | Subcrit (TRIGA-converted) | Operational | 0 | 3 MW TRIGA-converted reactor, Quezon City. Managed by the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (formerly Philippine Atomic Energy Commission). 1st criticality in August 1963, reactor conversion in March 1984, criticality after conversion in April 1988, shut down since 1988 for pool repairs, on extended shutdown at present. | |||
| Puerto Rico | Mayagüez - TRIGA reactor (dismantled) | Dismantled | |||||||
| Romania | Pitesti | TRIGA II Pitesti - SS Core | TRIGA Dual Core | Operational | 14 | 1980-02-02 | |||
| TRIGA II Pitesti - Pulsed | TRIGA Dual Core | Operational | 500 | 1980-02-02 | |||||
| Slovenia | Ljubljana | TRIGA- MARK II LJUBLJANA | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 250 | 1966-05-31 | Jožef Stefan Institute | (web page link) [51] | |
| Taiwan | Hsinchu City | THOR | TRIGA Conv | Operational | 1900-01-01 | 1961-04-13 | [56] | ||
| Thailand | Bangkok | TRR-1/M1 | TRIGA Mark III | Operational | 1899-12-31 | 1977-11-07 | Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) | Thai Research Reactor 1/Modification 1, Installed 1962, modified 1975–77. | |
| Turkey | Istanbul | ITU-TRR | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 250 | 1979-03-11 | Istanbul Technical University | Institute of Energy | |
| United Kingdom | Billingham | ICI TRIGA Reactor | TRIGA Mark I | Decommissioned | 250 | 1971-08-01 | 1988 | ICI Physics and Radioisotopes Dept of ICI R&D (later to become Tracerco) | |
| USA | Urbana, IL | LOPRA Univ. Illinois | TRIGA | Decommissioned | 10 | 1971-12-28 | |||
| San Ramon, CA | ARRR | TRIGA CONV | Operational | 250 | 1964-07-09 | ||||
| Pullman, WA | WSUR Washington State Univ. | TRIGA CONV | Operational | 1000 | 1961-03-07 | ||||
| Madison, WI | UWNR Univ. Wisconsin | TRIGA CONV | Operational | 1000 | 1961-03-26 | ||||
| College Station, TX | NSCR Texas A&M Univ. | TRIGA CONV | Operational | 1000 | 1962-01-01 | ||||
| Mayagüez, Puerto Rico | TRIGA Puerto Rico Nuclear Center | TRIGA CONV | Decommissioned | 2000 | 1972-01-19 | ||||
| State College, PA | PSBR Penn St. Unv. | TRIGA Mark CONV | Operational | 1000 | 1955-08-15 | ||||
| Silver Spring, MD | DORF TRIGA Mark F | TRIGA Mark F | Decommissioned | 250 | 1961-09-01 | ||||
| Bethesda, MD | AFRRI TRIGA | TRIGA Mark F | Operational | 1000 | 1962-01-01 | ||||
| Hawthorne, CA | TRIGA Mark F, Northrop | TRIGA Mark F | Decommissioned | 1000 | 1963-01-01 | ||||
| Omaha, NE | Veterans Affairs RR | TRIGA Mark I | Decommissioned | 20 | 1959-06-26 | ||||
| Salt Lake City, UT | TRIGA Univ. Utah | TRIGA Mark I | Operational | 100 | 1975-10-25 | ||||
| Tucson, AZ | Univ. Arizona TRIGA | TRIGA Mark I | Decommissioned | 100 | 1958-12-06 | ||||
| San Diego, CA | GA-TRIGA I | TRIGA Mark I | Under Decommissioning | 250 | 1958-05-03 | ||||
| San Diego, CA | GA-TRIGA F | TRIGA Mark I | Under Decommissioning | 250 | 1960-07-01 | ||||
| Portland, OR | RRR Reed College | TRIGA Mark I | Operational | 250 | 1968-07-02 | ||||
| Irvine, CA | UC Irvine TRIGA | TRIGA Mark I | Operational | 250 | 1969-11-25 | ||||
| Austin, TX | UT TRIGA Univ. Texas | TRIGA Mark I | Decommissioned | 250 | 1963-01-01 | ||||
| East Lansing, MI | TRIGA Mark I Michigan State Univ. | TRIGA Mark I | Decommissioned | 250 | 1969-03-21 | ||||
| Midland, MI | Dow TRIGA | TRIGA Mark I | Operational | 300 | 1967-07-06 | ||||
| Richland, WA | NRF, Neutron Rad Facility | TRIGA Mark I | Under Decommissioning | 1000 | 1977-03-01 | ||||
| Denver | GSTR US Geological Survey | TRIGA Mark I | Operational | 1000 | 1969-02-26 | ||||
| San Diego, CA | TRIGA Mark II | TRIGA Mark II | Decommissioned | 50 | 1959-12-11 | ||||
| Manhattan, KS | KSU TRIGA Mark II | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 250 | 1962-10-16 | ||||
| Idaho Falls, ID | NRAD | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 250 | 1977-10-12 | ||||
| Ithaca, NY | TRIGA Cornell Univ | TRIGA Mark II | Decommissioned | 500 | 1962-01-01 | ||||
| Corvallis, OR | OSTR, Oregon State Univ. | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 1100 | 1967-03-08 | ||||
| Austin, TX | TRIGA II Univ. Texas | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 1100 | 1992-03-12 | ||||
| Urbana, IL | Univ. Illinois Advanced TRIGA | TRIGA Mark II | Decommissioned | 1500 | 1969-07-23 | ||||
| Sacramento, CA | UC Davis/McClellan TRIGA | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 2000 | 1990-01-20 | ||||
| Berkeley, CA | BRR UC Berkeley | TRIGA Mark III | Decommissioned | 1000 | 1966-08-10 | ||||
| San Diego, CA | GA-TRIGA III | TRIGA Mark III | Decommissioned | 2000 | 1966-01-01 | ||||
| College Park, MD | MUTR Univ. Maryland | TRIGA MODIFIED | Operational | 250 | 1960-12-01 | ||||
| Albuquerque, NM | ACRR Annular Core RR | TRIGA MODIFIED | Operational | 2400 | 1967-06-01 | ||||
| Vietnam | Da Lat | Dalat Research Reactor | TRIGA Mark II | Operational | 500 | 1963-02-26 | (supplied by USA 1963, shut down 1975, reactivated by USSR 1984) |
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid, which in turn runs through steam turbines. These either drive a ship's propellers or turn electrical generators' shafts. Nuclear generated steam in principle can be used for industrial process heat or for district heating. Some reactors are used to produce isotopes for medical and industrial use, or for production of weapons-grade plutonium. As of 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports there are 422 nuclear power reactors and 223 nuclear research reactors in operation around the world.
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants. In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor core where it is heated by the energy released by the fission of atoms. The heated, high pressure water then flows to a steam generator, where it transfers its thermal energy to lower pressure water of a secondary system where steam is generated. The steam then drives turbines, which spin an electric generator. In contrast to a boiling water reactor (BWR), pressure in the primary coolant loop prevents the water from boiling within the reactor. All light-water reactors use ordinary water as both coolant and neutron moderator. Most use anywhere from two to four vertically mounted steam generators; VVER reactors use horizontal steam generators.
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.
Passive nuclear safety is a design approach for safety features, implemented in a nuclear reactor, that does not require any active intervention on the part of the operator or electrical/electronic feedback in order to bring the reactor to a safe shutdown state, in the event of a particular type of emergency. Such design features tend to rely on the engineering of components such that their predicted behaviour would slow down, rather than accelerate the deterioration of the reactor state; they typically take advantage of natural forces or phenomena such as gravity, buoyancy, pressure differences, conduction or natural heat convection to accomplish safety functions without requiring an active power source. Many older common reactor designs use passive safety systems to a limited extent, rather, relying on active safety systems such as diesel-powered motors. Some newer reactor designs feature more passive systems; the motivation being that they are highly reliable and reduce the cost associated with the installation and maintenance of systems that would otherwise require multiple trains of equipment and redundant safety class power supplies in order to achieve the same level of reliability. However, weak driving forces that power many passive safety features can pose significant challenges to effectiveness of a passive system, particularly in the short term following an accident.
General Atomics (GA) is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California that specializes in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The company also provides research and manufacturing services for remotely operated surveillance aircraft, including the Predator drones, airborne sensors, and advanced electric, electronic, wireless, and laser technologies.
Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission.
Aqueous homogeneous reactors (AHR) is a two (2) chamber reactor consisting of an interior reactor chamber and an outside cooling and moderating jacket chamber. They are a type of nuclear reactor in which soluble nuclear salts are dissolved in water. The fuel is mixed with heavy or light water which partially moderates and cools the reactor. The outside layer of the reactor has more water which also partially cools and acts as a moderator,. The water can be either heavy water or ordinary (light) water, which slows neutrons and helps facilitate a stable reaction, both of which need to be very pure.
Research reactors are nuclear fission-based nuclear reactors that serve primarily as a neutron source. They are also called non-power reactors, in contrast to power reactors that are used for electricity production, heat generation, or maritime propulsion.
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.
Nuclear reactor physics is the field of physics that studies and deals with the applied study and engineering applications of chain reaction to induce a controlled rate of fission in a nuclear reactor for the production of energy. Most nuclear reactors use a chain reaction to induce a controlled rate of nuclear fission in fissile material, releasing both energy and free neutrons. A reactor consists of an assembly of nuclear fuel, usually surrounded by a neutron moderator such as regular water, heavy water, graphite, or zirconium hydride, and fitted with mechanisms such as control rods which control the rate of the reaction.
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.
This page describes how uranium dioxide nuclear fuel behaves during both normal nuclear reactor operation and under reactor accident conditions, such as overheating. Work in this area is often very expensive to conduct, and so has often been performed on a collaborative basis between groups of countries, usually under the aegis of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI).
The hydrogen-moderated self-regulating nuclear power module (HPM), also referred to as the compact self-regulating transportable reactor (ComStar), is a type of nuclear power reactor using hydride as a neutron moderator. The design is inherently safe, as the fuel and the neutron moderator is uranium hydride UH3, which is reduced at high temperatures (500–800 °C) to uranium and hydrogen. The gaseous hydrogen exits the core, being absorbed by hydrogen absorbing material such as depleted uranium, thus making it less critical. This means that with rising temperature the neutron moderation drops and the nuclear fission reaction in the core is dampened, leading to a lower core temperature. This means as more energy is taken out of the core the moderation rises and the fission process is stoked to produce more heat.
The Washington State University Reactor (WSUR) is housed in the Dodgen Research Facility, and was completed in 1961. The (then) Washington State College Reactor was the brainchild of Harold W. Dodgen, a former researcher on the Manhattan Project where he earned his PhD from 1943 to 1946. He secured funding for the ambitious 'Reactor Project' from the National Science Foundation, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the College administration totaling $479,000. Dodgen's basis for constructing a reactor was that the College was primely located as a training facility for the Hanford site, as well as Idaho National Laboratory because there was no other research reactor in the West at that time. After completing the extensive application and design process with the help of contractors from General Electric they broke ground in August 1957 and the first criticality was achieved on March 7, 1961 at a power level of 1W. They gradually increased power over the next year to achieve their maximum licensed operating power of 100 kW.
Uranium hydride, also called uranium trihydride (UH3), is an inorganic compound and a hydride of uranium.
Uranium zirconium hydride (UZrH), a combination of uranium hydride and zirconium(II) hydride, is used as the fuel in TRIGA reactors. UZrH fuel is used in most research reactors at universities and has a large, prompt negative fuel temperature coefficient of reactivity, meaning that as the temperature of the core increases, the reactivity rapidly decreases.
The RAPID-L, RAPID-LAT is a micro nuclear reactor concept conceived as a powerhouse for colonies on the Moon and Mars. It is based on the RAPID-series fast breeder reactor using a liquid lithium-6 design. The study was funded by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) in FY 1999-2001. The research was carried out by Japan's Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), Komae Research Laboratory.
The Stable Salt Reactor (SSR) is a nuclear reactor design under development by Moltex Energy Canada Inc. and its subsidiary Moltex Energy USA LLC, based in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, as well as MoltexFLEX Ltd., based in the United Kingdom.
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.
FiR 1 was Finland's first nuclear reactor. It was a research reactor that was located in the Otaniemi campus area in the city of Espoo. The TRIGA Mark II reactor had a thermal power of 250 kilowatts. It started operation in 1962, and it was permanently shut down in 2015. At first, the reactor was operated by Helsinki University of Technology (TKK), and since 1971 by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.