Argonne Fast Source Reactor

Argonne Fast Source Reactor (AFSR) was a research reactor which was located at the Argonne National Laboratory, a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, facility located in the high desert of southeastern Idaho between Idaho Falls, Idaho and Arco, Idaho.

History

The Argonne Fast Source Reactor was a tool used to calibrate instruments and to study fast reactor physics, augmenting the Zero Power Plutonium Reactor (ZPPR) research program. Located at Argonne-West, this low-power reactor—designed to operate at a power of only one kilowatt—contributed to an improvement in the techniques and instruments used to measure experimental data.^[1]

The AFSR was designed to supplement the existing facilities of the Idaho Division of Argonne National Laboratory. It was designed as a readily available source of both fast and thermal neutrons for use as follows:^[2]

developing, testing, calibrating, and standardizing various counters;
preparation of radioactive metallic foils used in the development of counting and radiochemical techniques;
checking out complex experimental systems before operation in other reactors;
and development of potential experiments in the fast reactor field.^[2]

In the fall of 1970, this reactor was moved to a new location adjacent to the ZPPR facility at the ANL West site of the NRTS.^[2]

The reactor started up on October 29, 1959, and operated through the late 1970s.^[1]

Design

AFSR was designed and built in 1958 near EBR-I on the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS). AFSR had a design power of one kilowatt.^[2]

Decommissioning

AFSR operated through the late 1970s. The reactor is now shutdown and defueled.^[2]

Bibliography

Stacy, Susan M. "Proving the Principle". Idaho Operations Office of the Department of Energy. Idaho Falls, Idaho. DOE/ID-10799. 2000. Retrieved from: https://factsheets.inl.gov/SitePages/Publications.aspx
This article incorporates text from the public domain (prepared by or on behalf of the US government) work "Proving the Principle" (2000) which may be found at: https://factsheets.inl.gov/SitePages/Publications.aspx.