Operation of the BR2 reactor

The BR2 materials testing reactor is one of SCK-CEN's most important nuclear facilities. After an extensive refurbishment of 22 months to compensate for the ageing of the installation to enhance the reliability of operation and to comply with today's safety standards, the reactor was restarted in April 1997. In 2003, the reactor was operated for a total of 119 days at a mean power of 53 MW. The reactor was operated with an availability of 97.81 percent. One interruption of operation was recorded due to the reactor protection system and caused a delay of two days (xenon poisening) in the operation schedule. Sic ead test assemblies with 73% enriched uranium and a higher uranium density in the meat to maintain the nominal 235U content were irradiated for 4 cycles and reached a burn-up of 50 percent