Maria reactor


The Maria reactor is Poland's second nuclear research reactor and the only one still in use. It is located at Świerk-Otwock, near Warsaw and named in honor of Maria Skłodowska-Curie. It is the only reactor of Polish design.
Maria is a multifunctional research tool, with a notable application in production of radioisotopes, research with utilization of neutron beams, neutron therapy, and neutron activation analysis. It operates about 4000 hours annually, usually in blocks of 100 hours.

Technical description

The technical details of the reactor are given in the references.
Maria is a pool type reactor with a power of 30 MW. Despite it being a pool reactor, it contains channels individually connected to the primary coolant. The water pool provides cooling for elements that are not otherwise cooled, and also acts as radiation shielding. Maria uses enriched uranium as fuel. The fuel elements and channels are vertical but arranged conically. Water and beryllium blocks serve as the moderator. Elements of boron carbide sheathed in aluminum are utilized for control, compensation, and safety. The use of beryllium blocks results in a comparatively large fuel lattice pitch, and consequently large volume for payload targets. There is also a graphite reflector. Maria supplies a neutron flux of 4x1014 n/cm2s and 2x1014 n/cm2s. There are six horizontal channels for controlled use of neutron beams. There is also a window of lead-containing glass through which the core can be viewed. The reactor is housed in a sealed containment.
Following preparation which started in 2004, Maria was converted to use low-enriched uranium fuel by 2012.

History

Construction began on June 16, 1970 and the reactor was activated on December 18, 1974. With the shutdown of the Ewa reactor in 1995 it became Poland's only research nuclear reactor.

Production of medical radioisotopes

In February 2010, it was announced that Maria will start producing medical isotopes in cooperation with Covidien, to help ease the isotope shortages due to shutdowns of the Canadian NRU reactor and the Dutch Petten nuclear reactor.