HIFAR's developing role

The High Flux Australian Reactor (HIFAR) is operated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) with objectives associated with the non-energy uses of nuclear technology. HIFAR is one of six DIDO-class reactors designed in Britain in the 1950s. The design was chosen for its versatility, utility and longevity and has brought wide benefits to health care, to environmental protection and to the development of high technology. HIFAR is expected to be operating to the early years of the next century. After the government decided not to develop a nuclear power programme, materials testing work tapered off while the use of the reactor for producing radioisotopes increased. This growth continued to the point where radioisotope production became the major application of the reactor's in-core facilities. With the growth in the world semiconductor industry, ANSTO built facilities at HIFAR in the early 1980s to convert silicon to neutron transmutation doped (NTD) silicon for semiconductor manufacture. (Author)