TRIGA

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.

Design

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]

History

A TRIGA Mark II taken into use at Helsinki University of Technology in 1962 by the Finnish President Urho Kekkonen.

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 [fr]—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 MW_th / 16 MW_e.^[7]^[8]

List of all TRIGA Nuclear reactors built around the world

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
Congo, DR 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
Indonesia	Yogyakarta	KARTINI-PSTA	TRIGA Mark II	Operational	100	1979-01-25
Italy	Rome	TRIGA RC-1	TRIGA Mark II	Operational	1	1960-06-11
Italy	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]
Korea, Republic of	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
Romania	Pitesti	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		1961-04-13			[56]
Thailand	Bangkok	TRR-1/M1	TRIGA Mark III	Operational		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)

Notes

^ TRIGA® Nuclear Reactors General Atomics
^ TRIGA® Nuclear Reactors General Atomics
^ Argonne National Laboratory. "RERTR Radiological Threat Reduction Program". Retrieved 2013-12-09.
^ "Global Threat Reduction Initiative - Strategic Plan January 2009" (PDF). Retrieved 16 February 2018.
^ Teller, Edward; Shoolery, Judith L. (2002). Memoirs: a twentieth-century journey in science and politics. Oxford: Perseus Press. p. 423. ISBN 9780738207780.
^ "New Console Installed at U's Triga Reactor". 29 October 2020.
^ "UxC: Small Modular Reactor Market Outlook". www.uxc.com.
^ Triga Power System: A Passive Safe Co-Generation Unit for Electric Power and Low Temperature Heat, Small Reactors for Low Temperature Heat Applications, IAEA-TECDOC-463 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1988) pp. 45-55
^ "Centre for Research Reactor". baec.gov.bd.

References

Edward Teller (2001). Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics. Perseus Publishing.

External links

General Atomics official TRIGA website

[1] TRIGA® Nuclear Reactors General Atomics

[2] TRIGA® Nuclear Reactors General Atomics

[3] Argonne National Laboratory. "RERTR Radiological Threat Reduction Program". Retrieved 2013-12-09.

[4] "Global Threat Reduction Initiative - Strategic Plan January 2009" (PDF). Retrieved 16 February 2018.

[teller-5] Teller, Edward; Shoolery, Judith L. (2002). Memoirs: a twentieth-century journey in science and politics. Oxford: Perseus Press. p. 423. ISBN 9780738207780.

[6] "New Console Installed at U's Triga Reactor". 29 October 2020.

[7] "UxC: Small Modular Reactor Market Outlook". www.uxc.com.

[8] Triga Power System: A Passive Safe Co-Generation Unit for Electric Power and Low Temperature Heat, Small Reactors for Low Temperature Heat Applications, IAEA-TECDOC-463 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1988) pp. 45-55

[9] "Centre for Research Reactor". baec.gov.bd.

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