The IEA-R1 62 years of operation

Abstract

Early in 1956, the Atomic Energy Institute (IEA, from the acronym in portuguese) was founded with the aim of installing the nuclear research reactor purchased from the American company Babcock & Wilcox in the framework of the “Atoms for Peace” program. The start-up was on September 16, 1957, where the first criticality in the Southern hemisphere was achieved. The IEA-R1 is a pool type, light water cooled and moderated, beryllium and graphite reflected research reactor. Although designed to operate continuously at up to 5 MW, it operated at 2 MW for 40 years and only rather recently started operating at 5 MW. This year IEA-R1 completed 62 years of operation. The reactor is the core of the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute – IPEN (former IEA) – with its laboratories working for radiopharmaceutical applications, in the areas of radiological protection, nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear engineering, and radiation applications among others. Throughout this period it underwent several reforms, renovations and changes of management. In 2000 an Integrated Management System (IMS) has been structured, based on ISO-9001, in order to keep the operation safe, which implied certain procedures together with a continuous modernization program, and to comply with the regulatory requirements at the date as well. The first certification dates to 2002 and since then the reactor has been successfully renewing its ISO certification. The history, experiences and lessons learned during the 62 years of the IEA-R1 operation are described and shared in this paper.