Page 255 - 00. Complete Version - Progress Report IPEN 2014-2016

Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycle | Progress Report 255

Introduction

The Nuclear Engineering Center has shown, along several years, expertise in the field
of nuclear, energy systems, and correlated areas. Due to the experience obtained during
decades in research and technological development at (the) Brazilian Nuclear Program,
personnel has (have) been trained and started to actively and participate (participating)
in (the) design of the main system that will compose the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor
(RMB) which will make Brazil self-sufficient in the production of radiopharmaceuticals.
The institution has participated in the monitoring and technical support concerning the
safety, licensing and modernization of the research reactors IPEN/MB-01 and IEA-R1.
Along last two decades, numerous specialized services of engineering for the Brazilian
nuclear power plants Angra 1 and Angra 2 have been carried out. The contribution in
service, research, training, and teaching in addition to the development of many related
technologies applied to nuclear engineering and correlated areas enable the institute to
fulfill its mission that is to contribute in improving the quality of life of the Brazilian people.

Research Reactor– IEA-R1

During the last several years(,) a special effort was made to refurbish the old components
and systems of the IEA-R1 reactor, particularly those related with the reactor safety
improvement, in order to upgrade the reactor power. The primary objective was to modernize
the IEA-R1 reactor for safe and sustainable operation to produce primary radioisotopes, such
as 99Mo and 131I, among several others, used in nuclear medicine, by operating the reactor
at 5 MW on a schedule of 120 hours/week continuous operation. Since early 2015, due to
legal issues, the reactor is operating in a new schedule of 8.5 hours/day, 4 days/week. In the
middle of 2014(,) the replacement of most part of the primary cooling circuit was concluded
and(,) in 2015(,) the additional cooling tower of the secondary circuit was installed.

The Nuclear Fuel Center (CCN) of Ipen has proudly acquired 32-year experience in the
manufacture of MTR-type fuel elements (Materials Testing Reactor) being the only
plant that is able to feed the national research reactors with their fuel elements.

Indeed, CCN is the only plant of Ipen-CNEN that is accredited to fabricate nuclear fuels for the
continuous operation of the IEA-R1 research reactor. The serial production started in 1988,
when the first nuclear fuel element was delivered for IEA-R1. In 2011(,) CCN full of pride
fabricated its 100th nuclear fuel element. Besides routine production, (the) development
of new technologies has also been a permanent aim at CCN. In 2005, U3O8 were replaced
by U3Si2-based fuels, and the research of UMo has still being (is still) under investigation.
The R & D activities(,) carried out at CCN(,) support the nationalization of radioisotopes
for nuclear medicine through the development of UMo-based fuels and irradiation
targets for the production of Mo99. In addition, to make feasible the operation of the
Brazilian Multipurpose Research Reactor (RMB), it will be necessary for CCN to fabricate
1000 uranium targets and increase its annual production capacity from ten to sixty fuel
elements, a huge and challenging task. To achieve this goal, CCN is about to conclude a
brand new and modern Nuclear Fuel Plant and it (which) will provide not just (only) a new