The Réacteur Universitaire de Strasbourg (RUS) was a 100 kW

thermal A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

Argonaut-class reactor built at the University Louis-Pasteur, located in the commune of

Schiltigheim Schiltigheim (, , and sometimes by non-local speakers of French; Alsatian: ''Schelige'' ; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The inhabitants are called ''Schilikois'' in French and ''Scheligemer'' ...

near Strasbourg. RUS went

critical Critical or Critically may refer to: *Critical, or critical but stable, medical states **Critical, or intensive care medicine *Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences. *Critical Software, a company specializing in ...

on 22 November 1966 and ended operations on 31 May 1995. Its decommissioning was finalized in 2009.''Réacteur universitaire de Strasbourg''
– ASN, 5 juillet 2013

History

The design of university training reactor RUS was based on the

Argonaut The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', n ...

research reactor developed by the

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a science and engineering research United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory operated by University of Chicago, UChicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy. The facil ...

in the mid-1950s, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. A second Argonaut-class reactor, the Ulysse reactor, was already in operation in France at the Saclay research centre of the

French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and securit ...

. The University Reactor of Strasbourg was the Basic Nuclear Installation (BNI) No. 44. The reactor core consisted of an internal

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...

neutron reflector A neutron reflector is any material that reflects neutrons. This refers to elastic scattering rather than to a specular reflection. The material may be graphite, beryllium, steel, tungsten carbide, gold, or other materials. A neutron reflector ...

surrounded by a ring of MTR-type

nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing ...

elements with an average ²³⁵U enrichment of 92.5% and an external graphite neutron reflector. The

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 ...

(93%) was supplied by the United States. The reactor was primarily a research instrument for conducting experimental

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 ...

s, activation-based analysis of nuclear chemistry, solid-state physics, biology and the production of short-lived

radioisotopes A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferr ...

. A variety of cavities were available, including a 7.3-metre "biological cavity", to perform those experiments. Pneumatic conveyor systems make short irradiations possible to immediately study the irradiated materials in the laboratories adjacent to the reactor hall. The final shutdown of the RUS reactor was decided in February 2006. The RUS reactor was dismantled from August 2006 to December 2008. The final decommissioning of INB No. 44 was pronounced in October 2012.

References

{{Coord, 48, 36, 0, N, 7, 42, 0, E, type:landmark_scale:10000_region:FR, display=title University of Strasbourg Argonaut class reactor Defunct nuclear reactors Science and technology in France