Operating experience at the Reed College TRIGA Mark I facility

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1972

OSTI ID:21156974

Keedy, C R ^[1]

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1. Reed College, Portland, OR (United States)

Full text: Reed College is unique among small liberal arts colleges in that it operates a TRIGA Mark I reactor (250 kw - steady stage). There is no full time staff and all operators are undergraduate students in physics and chemistry. Training of new operators is done through a weekly seminar run throughout the school year with intensive work during January or summer vacation periods. 16 of 21 students who have taken the licensing exams have received their license. The Reactor has logged about 165 MW hrs of operation, which is equivalent to an average of 4 hours at full power per week. Most of this time has been used for sample activation, primarily neutron activation analysis with reactor training and testing operations next. Significant amounts of time have also been spent for demonstration operations for high school groups and the general public (800-1000 visitors annually) and neutron radiography. A consortium of seven local colleges has been organized to increase facility utilization. This consortium is now being funded by two local electric power companies who are planning to build nuclear power plants. Some major problems that have arisen in 3 1/2 years of operation are: 1. Slave system 2. Rotary specimen rack locking pin 3. Rapid wear of primary water system pressure gauges 4. Count rate channel preamp and bistable circuit 5. Fishing pole 6. Reg rod drive motor failure 7. % power channel UIC short and sticking scam relay. These problems have not caused a significant amount of down time and generally we have been able to run experiments on schedule. However, with the limited staff we have available, any problem is time-consuming. Finally, I would like to suggest that Gulf Energy and Environmental Systems stock the more expensive items of a TRIGA reactor (e.g., control rod drive motors, ion chambers, etc.) so that they can be readily replaced in the event of failure. (author)

• Research Organization: TRIGA Reactors, Gulf Energy and Environmental Systems Co., San Diego, CA (United States); Texas A and M University, College Station, TX (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21156974
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--09N0217; T--739
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
CHEMISTRY
CONTROL ROD DRIVES
COUNTING RATES
EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
ELECTRIC POWER
FAILURES
IONIZATION CHAMBERS
LICENSES
LICENSING
MOTORS
NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
NEUTRON RADIOGRAPHY
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PLANNING
PRESSURE GAGES
REACTOR OPERATION
TRAINING
TRIGA TYPE REACTORS