Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) Material Test Reactor

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The JHR Material Test Reactor is currently under construction at the CEA Cadarache centre.

The JHR Material Test Reactor project is sponsored by several international partners. Once commissioned, this unique experimental irradiation tool in Europe will not only be available to the nuclear industry and research organisations, but also to nuclear safety authorities and their technical support bodies.

The JHR Material Test Reactor is a high-performance material test reactor designed to generate up to 100 Mwth. It will have the capacity to handle around 20 material and fuel experiments at the same time, as well as to produce radioisotopes, mainly for the medical industry.

https://jhrreactor.com/en/about/

The CEA began exploring the possibility of designing and building a new reactor to replace its material test reactor called Osiris* in the 1980s and 1990s.

The JHR Material Test Reactor was named after the renowned physicist Jules Horowitz who was born on 3 October 1921 in Rzeszów, Poland.

Outstanding mathematician, he became director of the Atomic Reactor Department (1959) and then Director of the Atomic Reactors Division (1962). From 1970 to 1986, he led and developed fundamental research at the CEA. He knew how to federate teams, develop defining ideas and train the next generation of engineers in nuclear physics in France. His work in various research laboratories were decisive in the development of several major instruments, such as the high flux reactor at the Laue-Langevin Institute in Grenoble, the Orphée reactor at Saclay (Paris), the Ganil heavy ion accelerator in Caen, and the Tore-Supra machine for studying thermonuclear fusion at Cadarache (Saint-Paul-lez-Durance). He helped implement the European thermonuclear fusion reactor programme, JET, for which he was the council chairman from 1984 to 1987. He also chaired the management board of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility at the time of its inception (1989-1992).

https://jhrreactor.com/en/the-reactor-and-its-specificities/

The core will comprise up to 37 fuel assemblies surrounded by a reflector* (see diagram below) to improve core operation. This material test reactor will be loaded with fuel enriched with uranium-235. This fuel will produce the very high neutron fluxes needed to conduct material ageing studies.

The JHR Material Test Reactor fuel assembly is composed of 3 sectors with 8 concentric plates each.

https://jhrreactor.com/en/reactor-core/

The primary system water temperature should be around 25°C at the core inlet to comply with the reactor’s operating conditions and will be below 60°C at the core outlet.

https://jhrreactor.com/en/the-water-block/

Special capsules would be needed to raise the fuel temperatures to prototypic design conditions.