HIFAR
For 50 years the High Flux Australian Reactor - HIFAR - was Australia's only multi-purpose research reactor and operated safely and effectively over that time. It supplied millions of patient doses of nuclear medicine and provided scientists with neutron beams to let them study the structure of materials. It irradiated hundreds of tonnes of silicon for the international semiconductor industry and supplied radioisotopes for industrial use.
The 10 megawatt HIFAR was a multi-purpose reactor used for research and making radioactive products for Australian nuclear medicine and industry.
With the successful development of ANSTO's new reactor, OPAL, in 2006 there was no continuing need for HIFAR. Accordingly, it was shut down on 30 January 2007. That event heralded the commencement of a decommissioning process.
Decommissioning is the process of dismantling the reactor and ancillary equipment and the total cost of the process is estimated to be around $50 million. This process will occur over a period of ten years, with each step being carefully planned and approved by ANSTO's safety regulator, ARPANSA.
The fuel has been removed and fluids drained from the facility. The reactor is entering a 'care and maintenance' phase during which non-radioactive equipment may be removed and the reactor kept in a safe state whilst decay of short-lived radioactive materials within the reactor takes place.
In approximately 2016 dismanteling of the reactor will commence with the removal of all radioactive and other wastes. Following this, the site will be returned to a 'brown field' site and used for other purposes as determined by ANSTO.
The decommissioning of the DIDO reactor in Harwell UK, of which HIFAR is practically a carbon copy, started in 1990 and is due to be completed in 2016, when HIFAR decommissioning is also scheduled for completion. The HIFAR decommissioning process will therefore take less time than its UK counterpart. The UK team's expertise will be utilised during the HIFAR decommissioning process.