[en] Research and clinical studies in NCT require a wide range of specialized neutron facilities. High intensity and high purity thermal and epithermal neutron irradiation facilities, as well as macroscopic and microscopic boron analysis capabilities, are crucial for this research and have been developed for dedicated use at the MITR-II. These facilities are presently being used to advance this complex but promising cellular targeting radiation therapy

[en] Nearly all research reactors, during the course of their lifetime, are used to produce radioisotopes. Research reactors differ widely in type, quality and quantity of radioisotope generation and in terms of the purpose for which these radioisotopes are produced. The focus of this section is on those research reactors and their related facilities for which radioisotope production is a major utilization task and which contribute substantially to the market for such isotopes that are utilized to a significant extent in industry and medicine

[en] The first reactor, whose name reflected its primary task, was the Material Testing Reactor at Idaho Falls, United States of America. The Material Testing Reactor was commissioned in the early 1950s. The majority of other material testing reactor type reactors were built between 1960 and 1965. Today, they still represent the primary means to carry out neutron irradiation for studying materials and fuels of existing and future nuclear power plants. These material testing reactors are between 40 and 50 years old and the issue of their replacement is of fundamental importance to the future of nuclear energy

[en] NAA was and still is an important field of research at the Triga Mainz. INAA and RNAA are applied to determine the elemental composition of various materials, such as extraterrestrial samples, rocks and sediments, and environmental samples. Using fast pneumatic transfer systems, activation products with half-lives in the minute range and below are accessible. In addition, INAA is applied for the certification of materials for science and industry. DNAA is routinely used for the determination of fissionable material in environmental samples and for the incorporation of inspections of workers in the nuclear industry

[en] Since research reactors have considerable variations in their features, it is not easy to provide generally applicable guidelines for establishing training programmes within them, or to cite the general features that make a particular research reactor an excellent training reactor. However, as low power research reactors are predominantly used for training purposes, they have characteristics that make them more suitable facilities for training. Moreover, special research reactors have been designed for training and education in the past. Training and education has many facets, depending upon the objectives of the training programme, on the needs of the individuals to be trained - including background and the intended job or work subsequent to the training. This introduction to training at research reactors highlights some of the aspects which should be considered when applying a research reactor for training in the nuclear field

[en] As a conclusion, it can be said that the NTD Facility at the RSG GAS research reactor, as originally designed and installed, does not fully meet its foreseen function, i.e. to supply the quality of semiconductors as required by the market. The resulting cadmium ratio is too low, and a rather low thermal flux at the irradiation position adds to that disadvantage. However, the experience gained with the facility at the RSG GAS reactor can be used for similar facilities at other research reactors that are planned for a similar application

[en] Since its first criticality in 1959, the McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR) has been the most powerful and versatile university reactor in Canada. The MNR facility has been designed for a wide variety of applied and basic nuclear research utilization. The moderately high neutron fluxes available in and near the reactor core make MNR invaluable for very sensitive neutron activation analysis (NAA) by academic, commercial and industrial users in a wide variety of fields. Following a brief background on MNR, this paper discusses both organizational and hardware facilities available to users, with insights into their design and evolution. Considerations for both safe and successful use are discussed, always with the user in mind

[en] In 1955, the Government of the German Democratic Republic initiated radioisotope production. With that decision, the following plants received their go ahead: - Research reactor with its user facilities; - Cyclotron with its specific facilities; - Institute for radiochemistry; - Library, lecture hall, workshops and administration buildings supporting the necessary scientific and administrative environment. The Zentralinstitut fuer Kerntechnik (ZfK), also known as the Central Institute for Nuclear Technology, was founded at Rossendorf near Dresden, Germany, to house all those plants. The Rossendorf Research Reactor (RFR) was constructed in 1956-1957. That endeavour was enabled by the technological support of the former USSR under a bilateral agreement which included the delivery of a 2 MW research reactor of the WWR-S design

[en] Neutron capture therapy (NCT) is a technique that was designed to selectively target radiation which has a high linear energy transfer (LET) to cancerous tumours at the cellular level. It differs from conventional radiation therapy, one which involves the use of high energy X rays and electron beams which have a low LET, and where the energy deposited in the tumour as ionizations is spatially sparse and, therefore, the corresponding dose absorbed is generally lower. While standard radiotherapy treatments, chemotherapy and surgery have successfully cured many kinds of tumours, the potential efficacy of NCT for selectively targeting and destroying cancerous cells with little or no damage to normal tissue has attracted the attention of many scientists and medical professionals around the world

[en] A dual epithermal/mixed beam is available for BNCT applications at the RA-6 reactor facility. This switchable beam allows the selection of the best configuration in view of the tumour depth, optimizing the performance of the treatment. The mixed beam performance for skin melanomas has been exhaustively evaluated and the first human clinical trial has already been performed