TRIGA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TRIGA is a class of small nuclear reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics of the USA. TRIGA is an acronym of "Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics". The design team for TRIGA was led by the physicist Freeman Dyson.
TRIGA is a pool-type reactor that can be installed without a containment building, and is designed for use by scientific institutions and universities for purposes such as graduate education, private commercial research, non-destructive testing and isotope production.
The TRIGA reactor uses uranium-zirconium-hydride (UZrH) fuel and has a design which incorporates a prompt negative temperature coefficient, meaning that as the temperature of the core increases, the efficiency of the reactor decreases - so it is physically impossible for a meltdown to occur. TRIGA was originally designed to be fuelled with highly enriched uranium, however in 1978 the U.S. Department of Energy launched its Reduced Enrichment for Research Test Reactors program, which promoted reactor conversion to low-enriched uranium fuel [1].
The prototype for the TRIGA nuclear reactor (TRIGA Mark I) was commissioned on 3 May 1958 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.
A total of 35 TRIGA reactors have been installed at locations across the USA.
A further 35 reactors have been installed in other countries. Many of these installations were prompted by US President Eisenhower's 1953 policy of "Atoms for Peace" which sought to extend access to nuclear physics to countries in the American sphere of influence. Consequently, TRIGA reactors can be found in such diverse locations as Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Congo, Brazil, Vietnam, Iran, and Mexico.
TRIGA International, a joint venture between General Atomics and CERCA — a subsidiary of Framatome of France — was established in 1996. Since then TRIGA fuel assemblies have been manufactured at CERCA's plant in Romans-sur-Isère, France.
New TRIGA installations by General Atomics are underway in Morocco, Thailand and Romania.
Some of the main competitors to General Atomics in the supply of research reactors are Framatome of France, Siemens AG of Germany and INVAP of Argentina.
