| Diorit research reactor | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view (23 May 1960) | |
 | |
| Official name | Versuchsatomkraftwerk Lucens |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Location | Würenlingen, Aargau |
| Coordinates | 47°32′19″N 8°13′41″E / 47.53861°N 8.22806°E |
| Status | Decommissioned |
| Construction began | 1 January 1957 |
| Commission date | 10 October 1960 |
| Decommission date | 7 July 1977 |
| Owner | Paul Scherrer Institute |
| Operator | Paul Scherrer Institute |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PHWR |
| Cooling source | River Aare |
| Power generation | |
| Units decommissioned | 1 x 20 MW |
| Nameplate capacity | 30 MW |
| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Suffered a nuclear accident in 1967 with a partially melted fuel rod, leading to contamination in- and outside the reactor building. | |
Diorit was an experimental nuclear research reactor at the Swiss Federal Institute for Reactor Research (EIR) in Würenlingen (Canton of Aargau, Switzerland)
This nuclear reactor was operated by EIR from 1960 to 1977. Heavy water (D2O) was used as the moderator, as well as the coolant.[1] The initially commissioned reactor had a thermal power of 20 MW.[2] Natural uranium was initially used as fuel, which was later changed to enriched uranium. The 2 m (6.6 ft) long, aluminium and nickel cased fuel rods were produced by AMF Atomics Canada Ltd.[3]
- ^ Conrad H. 1972: Strahlenschutzprobleme beim Umbau des Schwerwasser-Reaktors Diorit. Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe KFK 1638 Tagung vom 17.-19. Mai 1972 in Karlsruhe: Strahlenschutz am Arbeitsplatz S. 79–87. (PDF Archived 19 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ Cole T.E. & Weinberg A.M. 1962: Technology of research reactors. Annu. Rev. Nucl. Sci. 12:221-242 (Online Archived 22 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine).
- ^ Mityaev Yu. 1964: Montreal power reactor conference. Translated Atomnaya Energiya, Vol.16, No. 3, pp. 272–273. March, 1964 (doi:10.1007/BF01122987).