Maria reactor
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The reactor Maria from outside
The research reactor Maria is located in the district Świerk in Otwock, located 30 kilometers from the capital Warsaw and is the second Polish research reactor after the research reactor Ewa.
History / reactor design
The plans and applications for the second Polish research reactor was designed in 1964 at the Institute for Nuclear Research. The reactor nuclear material and radiation- chemical research and production should be made of radioisotopes. The first draft of the second Polish research reactor has been developed on 20 November 1965 at the Office of Nuclear Technology Studies and Design PROATOM. The reactor was named in memory of Marie Curie Maria. The reactor was operated between 1975 and 1985. Mid-1985, was renovated in the reactor. After the Chernobyl disaster, new principles for the analysis of nuclear safety have been established. On this basis, a passive security system with the flooding of the fuel channels with reactor water in emergency situations was installed in the reactor. The new design of neutron beam tubes has been introduced. The reactor was put into operation after the renovation in December 1992. He can stay at least until 2020 in operation, the next renovation could extend the operation until 2060.
The construction was completed in 1974. The reactor was built especially for materials research and is therefore important for the construction and maintenance of nuclear power plants. In the reactor there is a high neutron flux density and there is a high degree of versatility to the core configuration to meet different requirements. The 25 kilometer distance between the reactor and the capital, Warsaw considered as an asset.
The reactor is a Polish scientists developed, multi-functional pool reactor / high-flux reactor with an output of 30,000 kW. Construction began on January 1, 1969 on December 18, 1974, the reactor went into operation. The reactor is licensed by the National Atomic Energy Agency. There are 70 employees and 39 operators of the reactor. The moderator is beryllium and water as coolant water is being used. The seven control rods are made of boron carbide. The reactor is used for physics research and isotope production. The fissile material comes from Russia, the enrichment is also made in Russia. As uranium dioxide fuel is being used. The fuel is 0.6 mm thick. The reactor is operated five days a week and 40 weeks a year. Studies have been conducted to use, among others, in the reactor Maria LEU fuels.
Fuel transport to Russia
In a mission that was completed on August 9, 2006, the IAEA has helped the Polish authorities in the elimination of about 40 kg of 20-80 % highly enriched uranium ( HEU) from the reactor Maria. The HEU was returned safely in the air to Russia, where it came from originally (for the Polish research reactors). The two-day mission was a joint project between the United States, Poland, Russia and the IAEA in accordance with an agreement between the Russian President and the U.S. President. George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin had signed at a meeting in Bratislava in February 2005, a contract which stated that the HEU U.S. and Russian origin should be attributed, to prevent the military use of fissile material from third countries. Both IAEA inspectors and technical experts from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration ( NNSA ) were present to monitor the decanting of uranium into canisters. With an armed guard escort the uranium was loaded early in the morning in a transport aircraft and placed in a secure facility near Novosibirsk. The Russian system is the fissile material depleted to low enriched uranium so that it can not be used to build bombs. The fuel removal was funded by the United States and carried out by a technical cooperation with the IAEA. It is part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative ( GTRI ), identify the high-risk nuclear and radiological materials around the world, secure and should recycle. A total of about 195 kg of HEU Russian origin were taken from established under Soviet aid foreign research reactors to Russia again. The IAEA is also working with Poland in order to provide the powerful reactor HEU to LEU as Mary of fuel, in which there is no risk of proliferation.