High Flux Isotope Reactor, Flux Trap
The flux trap is located at the center of the reactor's fuel element. This is the area of the reactor in which target materials are irradiated to produce specialized isotopes, such as californium-252 and other transuranium isotopes for research, industrial and medical applications. The High Flux Isotope Reactor (or HFIR) is a nuclear research reactor located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Operating at 85 MW, HFIR is one of the highest flux reactor-based sources of neutrons for condensed matter research in the United States, and it provides one of the highest steady-state neutron fluxes of any research reactor in the world. The thermal and cold neutrons produced by HFIR are used to study physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, and biology. The intense neutron flux, constant power density, and constant-length fuel cycles are used by more than 500 researchers each year for neutron scattering research into the fundamental properties of condensed matter. HFIR has approximately 600 users each year for both scattering and in-core research. The reactor is also used for medical, industrial, and research isotope production; research on severe neutron damage to materials; and neutron activation to examine trace elements in the environment.
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