A fuel cycle represents the time -- about 25 days -- it takes for the reactor's uranium fuel to become depleted. During operation, HFIR uses the nuclear fission process to produce the world's most intense neutron beams for materials research and isotope production.

"HFIR's unique characteristics are of immense value to both the scientific community, which uses its neutron beams for a wide range of studies on materials, and to industry, which relies on the neutrons for isotope production and advanced materials analysis and development," said ORNL Director Jeff Wadsworth.

HFIR's research community has recently benefited from a series of upgrades supported by DOE's Office of Science. New beam lines, which channel neutrons to experimental instruments, have been installed. A new experiment hall has been constructed, and a "cold source" is in preparation that literally chills the energetic neutrons, slowing them and making them more useful for studying polymers and biological materials.

The reactor also has a new cooling tower and beryllium reflector as part of an ongoing program to upgrade components and infrastructure for another three decades of operation.

Researchers from all over the world come to Oak Ridge to perform experiments at the HFIR. In 2006, the reactor will be joined by the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) to make ORNL the world's leading center for neutron research.

"SNS and HFIR are complementary. The combination of a world class research reactor with SNS, the world's most powerful pulsed neutron source, is unbeatable," said Jim Roberto, Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences.

While the HFIR produces steady-state beams of neutrons, the SNS will produce
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Contact: Bill Cabage
cabagewh@ornl.gov
865-574-4399
DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
13-May-2004