Towards the IGR Reactor Conversion

Between 17th and 18th of June, 2024, a technical meeting of specialists from the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NNC RK), the U.S. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Oak-Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Izotope Technology Dresden Company (Germany) was held in Dresden, Germany, where the technical issues of manufacturing and delivery of a radiation-protection box to Kazakhstan were discussed.

The box will allow repacking and treating highly-enriched uranium (HEU) spent nuclear fuel from the first core of the research reactor.

For reference: The IGR reactor belongs to the class of thermal neutron research nuclear reactors with a homogeneous uranium-graphite core, it operates in the mode of programmable power pulses and is self-quenching according to the pulse quenching principle.

The IGR reactor has the highest neutron flux density among the pulsed reactors of high integrated power.

The experimental studies and tests conducted at the IGR reactor are related to obtaining the data about fast-flowing physical and thermal processes at nuclear reactors, the operability of the studied objects under normal and emergency operating conditions, the behavior of fuels and structural materials to support the safety of systems and elements of the nuclear power facilities.

To date, the NNC RK experimental base is being prepared for down-blending and disposal of the irradiated HEU fuel from the reactor’s first core. The NNC RK has developed its own technology for down-blending HEU fuel from the IGR reactor by dry mixing and has become the world's only developer and owner of the technology for the down-blending and immobilization of the irradiated graphite HEU fuel.