ETRR-1


ETRR-1 or ET-RR-1, is the first nuclear reactor in Egypt supplied by the USSR in 1958. The reactor is owned and operated by Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority at the Nuclear Research Center in Inshas, northeast of Cairo.
ETRR-1 is the second oldest research reactor in the Middle East, after the Israeli IRR-1 reactor.

Overview

The reactor is a Light Water tank type WWR 2 MW research reactor with an initial fuel load of 10% enriched uranium U235 imported from Russia, since then the reactor had never been refueled.
In the 1980s, ETRR-1 reactor was shut down to modernize and extend the reactor's operability by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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.
In 2004/2005, an investigation by IAEA discovered that between 1999 and 2003, Egypt conducted about 12 unreported experiments, performed using a total of 1.15g 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 being separated during these experiments.
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” Accordingly, Egypt maintained full cooperation during the 2004/2005 investigation, and had taken corrective actions by submitting inventory change reports and providing a modified design information for the ETRR-1 reactor.
In 2009, The IAEA's Safeguards Implementation Report 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.

Accidents

Data from

General data