Pool Test Reactor (PTR) was a 10 kWt ordinary (light)

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

moderated pool-type reactor fueled with

highly enriched uranium Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238U ...

built at

Chalk River Chalk River (2016 population: 1029) is a small rural village, part of the Laurentian Hills municipality in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Upper Ottawa Valley along Highway 17 (Trans-Canada Highway), inland (west) from ...

in 1957. It used 93% enriched uranium-aluminum plate-type fuel. The reactor, was used for burnup measurement of

fissile In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction. By definition, fissile material can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of thermal energy. The predominant neutron energy may be t ...

samples from NRX. The reactor was designed and built by Canadair.

History

On November 29, 1957 the reactor attained first criticality and shortly took over the function of

ZEEP The ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile) reactor was a nuclear reactor built at the Chalk River Laboratories near Chalk River, Ontario, Canada (which superseded the Montreal Laboratory for nuclear research in Canada). ZEEP first went critical a ...

for measuring reactivity effects of materials, particularly after

irradiation Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. The exposure can originate from various sources, including natural sources. Most frequently the term refers to ionizing radiation, and to a level of radiation that will serve ...

. It was shut down and defueled in 1990.

External links

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
{{authority control Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Nuclear research reactors