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36-453: The reactor is designed to have a good neutron economy that results in large numbers of thermal neutrons being available around the outside of the reactor core. The neutrons from this source can be used in many materials testing and other experimental roles. The system also allows samples to be inserted directly into the core, where they are exposed to high-energy neutrons, which is useful for isotope preparation. Similar reactors were common in

72-405: A chain reaction . However, the neutrons can only cause another fission under certain conditions based on their energy; high-energy, or "relativistic", neutrons will often fly right through another nucleus without causing fission. The chance that a neutron will be captured increases greatly when its energy is about that of the target nucleus, which is known as a "thermal neutron". In order to maintain

108-561: A chain reaction in a nuclear reactor , a neutron moderator is used to slow the neutrons down. This moderator is often used as the coolant that is used for energy extraction as well, and the most common moderator is water. The neutrons also slow due to elastic and inelastic collisions with fuel and other materials in the reactor. A fission reactor is based on the idea of maintaining criticality , where every fission event leads to another fission event, no more and no less. As fission of uranium releases two or three neutrons, this means some of

144-402: A limited liability company. The company’s field of activity was defined as applied research in technology, taking research results to practical use, and operating as a national metrology institute. As a limited liability company, VTT was able to react more easily to changes in the customers and the environment, and to operate more freely in the financial markets. Bioruukki, a research centre for

180-541: A new report suggested the changes put in place due to the Action Plan were working and placed the initial operational date sometime after 2030. The current date, on the CEA web page, puts it between 2032 and 2034. 43°40′40″N 5°46′07″E  /  43.6778°N 5.7685°E  / 43.6778; 5.7685 Neutron economy Neutron economy is defined as the ratio of excess neutron production divided by

216-515: A unit focusing on autonomous mobility in Turku, VTT Senseway. In May 2020, VTT announced that it would acquire Finland’s first quantum computer . Its aim was to build a 50- qubit quantum computer. The Finnish IQM Finland Oy, which works with quantum computing, was selected as the supplier of the quantum computer. On 30 October 2024, it was reported that VTT was selected as the first-ever foreign partner to join an ARPA-E research program funded by

252-409: Is subcritical . The term "neutron economy" is used not just for the instantaneous reactivity of a reactor, but also to describe the overall efficiency of a nuclear reactor design. Common reactor designs using conventional water as the coolant and moderator generally have poor relative neutron economies because the water will absorb some of the thermal neutrons, reducing the number available to keep

288-540: Is part of Finland's innovation system and operates under the mandate of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment . VTT – then called the Technical Research Institute of Finland (VTL) – was founded on 16 January 1942 by President Risto Ryti ’s decree. Its mission was to engage in technical research for the benefit of science and society as a whole. Construction started immediately, and

324-751: The United States Department of Energy . In the program VTT, together with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , aim to accelerate the commercial use of fusion energy. The collaboration focuses on solving the challenges of materials needed in extreme conditions. VTT’s head office is located in Otaniemi , Espoo . The President and CEO is Antti Vasara, DSc (Tech.). In addition to Espoo, VTT has offices in Jyväskylä , Kajaani , Kuopio , Tampere and Oulu . In 2022, VTT has four subsidiaries: VTT also has five key initiatives, which it calls

360-409: The "overall economy" as they do not maintain the chain reaction. The quantity that indicates how much the neutron economy is out of balance is given the term reactivity . If a reactor is exactly critical —that is, the neutron production is exactly equal to neutron destruction—the reactivity is zero. If the reactivity is positive, the reactor is supercritical . If the reactivity is negative, the reactor

396-554: The 1950s and 60s, but most have reached the end of their practical lifespans, and few new ones have been commissioned. This has led to a crisis in the worldwide supply of medical isotopes, one of the major roles of the JHR. Site preparation began in 2007, followed by the first concrete in the summer of 2009. The central containment structure was completed with the addition of a 105-tonne (103-long-ton; 116-short-ton) dome in December 2013. At

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432-531: The 2000s, this left the majority of these roles being filled by machines that were now many decades old, and the International agreements on the production of enriched uranium meant they were often operating below their design goals. Among the newest was the European example, France's 70 MW OSIRIS , completed in 1968. The entire fleet was expected to leave service by 2020. The reactor is being built under

468-639: The Government proposed that VTT would be made a limited liability company and that Mikes and VTT would be merged. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, VTT operated in a very businesslike manner: it received about 70 per cent of its income from commissions assigned by companies and research funding open to competition. In January 2015, the Centre for Metrology (MIKES) was merged with VTT, and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland became

504-543: The OSIRIS design. It has a planned service lifespan of around 50 years, and is designed to be adaptable for a variety of research uses by nuclear utilities, nuclear steam system suppliers, nuclear fuel manufacturers, research organisations and safety authorities. The reactor's versatile modular design allows it to accommodate up to 20 simultaneous experiments. Its instrumentation allows previously unavailable real-time analysis to be performed. Its primary uses will be research into

540-400: The Technical Research Institute of Finland changed its name to Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT, Valtion teknillinen tutkimuskeskus , National Technical Research Centre). VTT received new tasks due to the strong growth and diversification of industrial activities. It also participated in research related to the restructuring of society. The activities focused on technology research and

576-473: The addition of a 105-tonne (103-long-ton; 116-short-ton) dome in December 2013. JHR ran into significant difficulty from that point and the operational date was pushed back. In 2013, it was expected to be operational in 2018. Based on that estimate, on 9 December 2013 the decision was made to shut down OSIRIS on 31 December 2015. The next year, in 2016, the delays and escalating costs led French naval manufacturer and reactor production company DCNS to pull out of

612-580: The associated development work. In 1990, VTT had almost 6,000 cubic metres of underground laboratory space in Otaniemi and 15,000 square metres excavated at a depth exceeding 20 metres. In June 2007, the Ministerial Working Group on Administration and Regional Development supported the proposal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to launch the preparatory work for transforming VTT into a state enterprise in early 2009. A new name

648-771: The bioeconomy and circular economy, was established in Kivenlahti, Espoo. Its aim was to overcome the ‘valley of death’ associated with the commercialisation of inventions. In January 2018, VTT sold Labtium Ltd and VTT Expert Services Ltd, which provided testing, inspection and certification services, to Eurofins Scientific Group . In May, it was announced that VTT would start coordinating a European consortium of more than 10 million euros to develop commercial applications for high-temperature SOFC fuel cell technology. In 2019, VTT launched its own incubator activities, VTT Launchpad, through which it provided support for research teams in setting up businesses. In December, VTT established

684-602: The cancellation of the ASTRID design, a fast reactor design, as there was not enough money to complete both. These problems led to the French Government ordering a formal audit in 2019. The resulting Action Plan called for the existing development organization to be disbanded. A new organization took control in March 2020. At that time, the final design of the reactor was still not expected until 2023. In November 2022,

720-422: The core. To meet all of these conditions, these were small and had limited neutron flux. A second generation of similar reactors emerged in the 1960s. These were optimized for neutron production and the number of sample insertion areas. These designs were larger and operated at higher energy, often in the megawatt region, which required additional cooling. As the nuclear field changed during the 1970s and 80s, there

756-657: The framework of an international consortium of research institutes, including France's CEA , the Czech Republic 's NRI, Spain 's CIEMAT, Finland 's VTT , Belgium 's SCK•CEN , the United Kingdom 's NNL and the European Commission , along with private companies such as Electricité de France (EDF), Vattenfall and Areva . There are two non-European associate partners to the consortium; India 's DAE and Japan 's JAEA . The construction of

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792-483: The laboratory of mining technology moved to Otaniemi as the first VTT laboratory. In the 1960s, VTT grew to be the largest research institute in Finland, employing more than 400 people. VTT was an internationally recognised research centre. In the 1970s, the research institute underwent extensive modernisation, such as simplifying the administration and expanding the testing activities to research. In March 1972,

828-531: The more radioactive components. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is a state-owned and controlled non-profit limited liability company. VTT is the largest research and technology company and research centre conducting applied research in Finland . It provides research and innovation services and information for domestic and international customers and partners, both in private and public sectors. VTT

864-409: The neutrons almost always leads to some of them being absorbed as well. Neutron economy is a measure of the number of neutrons being released that can cause fission compared to the number needed to maintain the chain reaction. This is not simply an accounting of the total number of neutrons, as it also includes a weighting based on the energy. Thus, remaining high-energy neutrons are not a major part of

900-443: The neutrons must be removed as part of the overall process. Some will be lost purely due to geometry, those released travelling outward from the outer edge of the fuel mass will not have a chance to cause fission, for instance. Others will be absorbed through various processes in the mass, and still others will be deliberately absorbed by control rods or similar devices to maintain the correct overall balance. The process of moderating

936-601: The order of 1.0–1.5 megapascals (150–220 psi), depending on the required flow and the core head loss. During the early exploration of atomic energy , a number of reactors were designed for the materials testing role. These were generally small designs with limited energy output that incorporated several design features to provide a good neutron economy so that excess neutrons from the core could be used to irradiate materials samples. These designs generally used enriched uranium to allow them to reach criticality while deliberately leaking neutrons or having them absorbed within

972-517: The performance of nuclear fuel at existing reactors, testing of materials used in reactors, testing designs for fuel for future reactors and the production of radioisotopes for use in medicine. The reactor is intended to produce radioisotopes in coordination with existing production facilities at Petten in the Netherlands . The reactor's coolant flow is ascending, in the order of nearly 2.36 m/s (83 cu ft/s), with maximum pressure in

1008-452: The project after losing €100 million the year before due to work at JHR. At that time it was estimated the reactor would cost approximately €1.5 billion to complete. By 2019, the cost estimate had escalated even more and was now placed at €2.5 billion, but the estimate also included language that they expected the total would surpass that even if it was completed on its new schedule of 2022. By this time, cost overruns on JHR also helped lead to

1044-409: The rate of fission . The numbers are a weighted average based primarily on the energies of the neutrons. Nuclear fission is a process in which the nuclei of atoms are split apart. Among the various particles released in this process are high-energy neutrons with energies spread over the neutron spectrum . Those neutrons may cause other nuclei to undergo fission, leading to the possibility of

1080-460: The reaction going. In contrast, heavy water already has an extra neutron, and the same reaction generally causes it to be released, meaning that a reactor moderated with heavy water does not absorb neutrons and thus has a better neutron economy. Reactors with high neutron economies have more "leftover neutrons" which can be used for other purposes, like breeding additional fuel or causing sub-critical fission in nuclear waste to "burn off" some of

1116-461: The reactor was funded by CEA (which provided 50% of the project's funding), EDF (20%), various EU research institutes (20%) and Areva (10%). In the framework of the IAEA ICERR label (International Centre based on Research Reactors), the JHR will be also available to institutions from IAEA Member States for education, and joint research and development (R&D) projects. The design of the reactor

Jules Horowitz Reactor - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-426: The research institute was completed in autumn 1943. The volume of the building was 20,000 cubic metres, and seven of VTT’s first ten laboratories were placed in the building. After the war, VTT expanded rapidly and was particularly occupied with the quality assurance of war compensation products. In 1950, the research institute comprised 15 laboratories. The state bought the land of Otaniemi Manor in 1949, and in 1955

1188-400: The time it was predicted the system would be operational in 2014. Since then the site has suffered from significant delays, leading to a complete re-organization of the management. Current estimates suggest first criticality sometime after 2030. The Jules Horowitz Reactor is a materials testing reactor, with a power output of approximately 100 megawatts. It has roughly twice the neutron flux of

1224-456: Was carried out between 2002 and 2005. At the time it called for the reactor to complete construction in mid-2013 and reach initial criticality in early 2014. The total cost of construction was estimated to be around €500 million. Site preparation began in March 2007. The first concrete for the reactor's foundations was poured in August 2009, and the central containment structure was completed with

1260-483: Was introduced in 2010: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. VTT was divided structurally into groups. In addition to the parent company VTT, the new VTT Group consisted of three subsidiaries: VTT Expert Services Ltd, VTT Ventures Ltd and VTT International Ltd. VTT Memsfab Ltd started its operations in 2011. In 2012, VTT had more than 3,000 employees. In January 2014, VTT reformed its organisation and divided its operations into three business areas: In May 2014,

1296-486: Was less interest in materials research and more emphasis on roles like medical isotope production and other commercial uses. This led to the reactors of the 1960s continuing to be used decades later than originally planned. While newer designs emerged with better performance, the cost of building the reactor could not be justified on the commercial uses alone. Projects like MAPLE in Canada were delayed and then cancelled. By

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