High Flux Beam Reactor

Brookhaven pioneered research using subatomic particles as tools to investigate the structure of matter.  Building upon experience gained with the Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR), the High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR, shown under construction in the mid-1960s, at right) was designed to produce copious amounts of neutrons, particles which are uniquely suited to this purpose. In the HFBR, the neutron flux reached its maximum outside the reactor core, where it was readily available for experiments, rather than inside the core, as with most reactors. Neutron beams were delivered to experimenters through beam ports that came out of the core on a tangent, rather than radiating outward as was typical in previous reactors. This improvement yielded more slow-moving neutrons, which are desirable for most research. Most research reactors built today incorporate the design innovations which first appeared in the HFBR. 

The HFBR first achieved a self-sustaining chain reaction on October 31, 1965. For over 30 years, the HFBR was one of the premier beam reactors in the world, matched only by the Institut Laue-Langevin reactor in Grenoble, France.

During its operating history, from 1965 to 1996, the HFBR operated at various power levels, from a low of 30 megawatts (MW) in later years to a high of 60 MW earlier. For 16 years, the HFBR operated at its original design power of 40 MW, providing a neutron flux of 1.6x10¹⁵ neutrons per square centimeter per second, a factor of 50 higher than the BGRR. Then, in 1982, after six years of preparation, the reactor power was increased to 60 MW. At the higher power, the neutron flux was  increased by an additional 50 percent.

The greater neutron flux cut by a third the time needed to do experiments, making the reactor available to even more users. The higher flux also gave scientists a better chance of succeeding with certain innovative experiments that otherwise might not have been possible. And through the combination of regular efforts to upgrade the machine, the reactor achieved an enviable record of availability as a dependable source of neutrons.  

• Read about the research accomplishments of the HFBR.

During a routine maintenance shutdown in 1996, tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen and a by-product of reactor operations, was found in groundwater south of the reactor. Investigations revealed that the source of the tritium was a small leak in the pool where spent reactor fuel was stored. Operations at the HFBR were suspended while the Department of Energy considered what action to take. In November 1999, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announced that the reactor would be permanently closed.

• See current  information about the decommissioning of the HFBR

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation of State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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