Page 3 - PR 2014 2016 09 Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycle

Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycle | Progress Report 247

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 have been trained and started to actively 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.

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
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to produce primary radioisotopes, such as Mo and 131 I, 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 years of 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.
It is also the only plant accredited to fabricate nuclear fuels for continuous operation
of IEA-R1. The serial production started in 1988, when the first nuclear fuel element
was delivered for IEA-R1. In 2011, it was fabricated its 100th nuclear fuel element.
In 2005, U O were replaced by U Si -based fuels, and the research of UMo is still
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under investigation. R&D activities were carried out to support the nationalization
of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine through the development of UMo-based fuels
and irradiation targets for the production of Mo . To make feasible the operation of
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RMB, it will be necessary to fabricate 1000 uranium targets and increase its annual
production capacity from ten to sixty fuel elements. To achieve this goal, CCN is
about to conclude a brand new and modern Nuclear Fuel Plant which will provide not
only a new infrastructure for scaling up, but also a safer and greener production.