ETRR-1

ETRR-1 or ET-RR-1 (Experimental Training Research Reactor Number one, and sometimes called Egypt Test and Research Reactor Number one^[7]) is the first nuclear reactor in Egypt^[8] supplied by the former USSR in 1958.^[9] The reactor is owned and operated by Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) at the Nuclear Research Center in Inshas, 40–60 kilometers northeast of Cairo.^[10][11]

ETRR-1 is the second oldest research reactor in the Middle East after the Israeli IRR-1 reactor.^[12]

Overview

The reactor is a Light Water tank type WWR 2 MW research reactor^[6] with an initial fuel load of 3.2 kg 10% enriched uranium U235 (EK-10)^[1] imported from Russia, since then the reactor had never been refueled.^[4][13]

In the 1980s ETRR-1 reactor was shut down to modernize and extend the reactor's operability by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).^[4][8]

Unreported nuclear experiments

In March 2001 and July 2002, the IAEA was investigating on the environmental samples which was taken from the ETRR-1's hot cells that revealed traces of actinides and fission products, which was explained by Egypt in July 2003, that the presence of the particles was attributed by a damaged nuclear fuel cladding resulted in contamination of the reactor water that penetrated the hot cells from irradiated sample cans.^[14][15]

In 2004/2005, an investigation by IAEA discovered that between 1999 and 2003, Egypt conducted about 12 unreported experiments performed using a total of 1.15 g of natural uranium compounds and 9 thorium samples had been irradiated and conducted at the ETRR-1 to test the production of fission product isotopes for medical purposes. The irradiated compounds had been dissolved in three laboratories located in the Nuclear Chemistry Building with no plutonium or U-233 was separated during these experiments.^[13][14][16]

Egypt justified its reporting failures as the government and the IAEA had “differing interpretations” of Egypt’s safeguards obligations and emphasizing that the country’s “nuclear activities are strictly for peaceful purposes”^[15] accordingly, Egypt maintained fully cooperated during the 2004/2005 investigation and had taken corrective actions by submitting inventory change reports (ICRs) and providing a modified design information for the ETRR-1 reactor.^[13][14][16]

In 2009, The IAEA's Safeguards Implementation Report (SIR) for 2008, concludes that earlier issues of undeclared nuclear activities and material reported to the Board of Governors in February 2005 are no longer outstanding as the IAEA found no discrepancies between what have been declared during the investigation and IAEA's findings and no evidences of extraction of plutonium or enrichment of uranium.^[13][14][17]

Accidents

• On April 2010, one of the cooling pumps of the ETRR-1's reactor broke, according to Mohamed Al-Qolali, the director of the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, the accident was immediately fixed without any radioactive water leakage as this incident happened due to operating the reactor without receiving safe operation permission from the Nuclear Safety Authority. According to Al-Qolali, the reactor director, and the operating manager were responsible for the accident and there were two visits by IAEA one on July and another one on August to ensure security measures had been taken and they recommend for urgent renovation of the aging reactor in order to restoring operation.^[18][19]
• On 25 May 2011,^[19] another incident of water leakage happened again for the second time due to explosion in the reactor's pump which released 10 cubic meters of radioactive water according to a source at the Atomic Energy Authority said to a Rose El Youssef newspaper, that the disaster considered a third degree according to the IAEA's International Nuclear Event Scale.^[20] The government and officials denied any radiation leaks^[21] and attributed the accident to a leakage of water from a pump that has nothing to do with the normal fuel cycle.^[19][22] Finally, The Atomic Energy Authority admitted of a leak of radioactive water from ETRR-1 with a zero risk to the reactor and the neighboring area as the leaking fluid was immediately contained according to Naguib Ashoub, director of the Department of Reactors "the first reactor is 50 years old and hasn't been operated for a year and a half," and he explained that, "the leak took place during the maintenance of the pump," confirming that safety measures had been taken without any leaks outside the chamber and that IAEA's inspectors visited the reactor the day after the leak without detecting any radiation.^[19][23] A contradicting statement by Samir Mekheimar, a former director at the Nuclear Research Center said, "the fact that the reactor was by mere chance not operated the next day saved the area from environmental disaster." also, he added that the leak was due to an operator error and the AEA ordered its staff not to publicize the leak or face dismissal.^[19][24] In addition, according to Hani Amer, which was an Egyptian Nuclear Safety Agency's inspector who visited the site, attributed the accident due to a valve failure coolant from the primary reactor was not able to flow through the correct channels to the waste tanks and no workers had been exposed to radioactivity and that,"the radiation level was in the range of 1 microsievert per hour, which is four times the normal background level of 0.25 microsievert per hour."^[19]

Reactor specifications

Data from ^[3][4][5][6]

General data

• Safeguards: IAEA
• Total Staff: 18
• No of Operators: 7

Technical data

• Reactor Type: Tank WWR
• Thermal Power, Steady (kW): 2,000.00
• Max Flux SS, Thermal (n/cm2-s): 1.5E13^[8][25]
• Max Flux SS, Fast (n/cm2-s): 3.6E13^[8]
• Thermal Power, Pulsed (MW): 0.00
• Moderator: Light Water
• Coolant: Light Water
• Forced Cooling: 960 M3/H
• Coolant Velocity in Core: 1.8 M/S
• Reflector: H2O
• Control Rods Material: BC,SS
• Control Rods number: 9

Experimental facilities

• Horizontal Channels: 9
• Horizontal Max Flux (n/cm2-s): 5.0E8^[8]
• Horizontal Use: Neutron Physics, Solid State, & Shielding
• Vertical Channels: 8
• Vertical Max Flux (n/cm2-s): 0.8E13
• Vertical Use: Production of Radioisotopes
• Core Irradiation Facilities: 1
• Core Max Flux (n/cm2-s): 0.8E13
• Loops Max Flux: 1.0E13

Fuel data

• Origin of Fissile Material: Russia
• Enrichment Supplier: Russia
• Equilibrium Core Size: 44
• Rods per Element: 16^[2]
• Dimensions of Rods, mm: 10 DIA, 500L
• Cladding Material: Aluminum Alloy^[2]
• Cladding Thickness, mm: 1.5
• Fuel Thickness, mm: 7
• Burnup on Discharge, max %: 25
• Burnup Average, %: 20
• Fuel Fabricator: Russia

Utilization

• Hours per Day: 3
• Days per Week: 3
• Weeks per Year: 20
• MW Days per Year: 96
• Materials/fuel test experiments: No
• Neutron Scattering: No
• Neutron Radiography: No
• Neutron capture therapy: No
• Activation Analysis: No
• Transmutation: No
• Geochronology: No
• Other Uses: Solid state, nuclear, and reactor physics, chemical research, isotope production, and biological irradiation

See also

• ETRR-2
• Nuclear program of Egypt
• Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority
• List of nuclear reactors
• Fuel Manufacturing Pilot Plant

References