Research reactor TRIGA Heidelberg

Research reactor TRIGA Heidelberg
Coordinates	49 ° 24 '51 "  N , 8 ° 40' 21"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 24 '51 "  N , 8 ° 40' 21"  E
country	Germany
Data
operator	German Cancer-research center
start of building	February 1965
Installation	HD I : August 26, 1966 HD II : February 28, 1978
Shutdown	HD I : March 31, 1977 HD II : November 30, 1999
Shutdown	December 13, 2006
Reactor type	TRIGA Mark I.
Thermal performance	250 kW
Neutron flux density	1 × 10 13  n / (cm 2 s)
was standing	February 2, 2009

The TRIGA Heidelberg research reactor was a nuclear reactor that was operated from 1966 to 1999 at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg . The research reactor was mainly used for the production of radionuclides for experimental oncology and tumor diagnosis and therapy. The reactor facility has now been completely dismantled and was released from the scope of the Atomic Energy Act in 2006 .

history

The planning for a research reactor at the German Cancer Research Center began in February 1965. Ultimately, a decision was made in favor of a swimming pool reactor of the type TRIGA -Mark I from the US company General Atomics . This reactor was built under the name TRIGA HD I in a temporary building of the Institute for Nuclear Medicine. It reached its first criticality on August 26, 1966. The research reactor was operated there for eleven years until March 31, 1977. It was shut down and rebuilt on the main site of the German Cancer Research Center, whereby the fuel elements from the previous reactor were reused.

There it was put back into operation under the name TRIGA HD II on February 28, 1978. The old reactor plant was shut down and transferred to safe enclosure on December 11, 1980 . In 1996 the decision was made to shut down the reactor for good, as it was no longer needed due to new research focuses. The research reactor was finally shut down on November 30, 1999 after a total of 33 years of operation.

The fuel elements were then transported to the USA on June 1, 2001 for final storage . In September 2004, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs granted permission for the dismantling and final decommissioning of the two reactor plants. The Society for Nuclear Service was entrusted with the dismantling and decommissioning . The radioactive waste was handed over to the state collection point at the Karlsruhe Research Center . Both plants were completely dismantled and released on December 13, 2006 from the scope of the German Atomic Energy Act.

The reactor building is now to be used for another purpose in cancer research.

use

The research reactor with a thermal output of 250  kW was mainly used for nuclear medical diagnostics in tumor research. It was also used for neutron activation analysis in trace element analysis of biological tissue. The reactor had a relatively high neutron flux of 1 × 10 ¹³ n / cm ² s. Almost 20 percent enriched uranium was used as nuclear fuel . Due to the low output of the reactor, only about 0.2 g of about 36 g of uranium-235 were consumed annually per fuel element. The 126 fuel rods were in use from the start and have not had to be replaced in the meantime. A total of around 14,000 irradiation experiments with around 40,000 irradiated samples were carried out on the reactor.

See also

• List of nuclear power plants
• List of nuclear reactors in Germany

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1. ↑ List of nuclear facilities in the Federal Republic of Germany ( Memento from January 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Federal Office for Radiation Protection, November 2013
2. ↑ Chronicle 1999–2004 (PDF; 3.3 MB) of the German Cancer Research Center
3. ^ Fuel elements of the research reactor TRIGA Heidelberg II transported away , press release No. 21/2001 of the German Cancer Research Center from June 5, 2001
4. ↑ Barbara Juenger-Graef, Karl-Heinz Hoever, Thomas Moser, Martin Berthold, Hans-Juergen Blenski. Completed Decommissioning of the Research Reactor TRIGA Heidelberg  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Contribution to the Waste Management Symposium 2006  
5. ↑ M. Berthold, B. Jünger. Dismantling of the reactor plant TRIGA HD I and HD II in the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , atw - International Magazine for Nuclear Energy, February 2006  
6. ↑ Activity report 2007  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.4 MB) of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment  
7. ↑ Dismantling of the biological shield of the research reactor TRIGA HD II in the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , GNS information, issue 34, September 2005  
8. ↑ Research and teaching reactors in Baden-Württemberg  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Ministry of the Environment Baden-Württemberg  
9. ↑ reactor decommissioning successfully completed , press release no. 31/2006 of the German Cancer Research Center of 28 April 2006