The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, along with technical experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, China, and Ghana, last week finished converting Ghana’s GHARR-1 miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) to run on low-enriched uranium fuel rather than highly enriched uranium.
The NNSA said in a Wednesday announcement that this work, part of its effort to minimize the use of nuclear weapon-usable HEU in civilian applications worldwide, involved conducting feasibility analyses to confirm that the reactor could safely operate with LEU fuel, then testing the new fuel to ensure it would function as intended in the reactor, the NNSA said.
The MNSR, used in universities, hospitals, and research centers, is the first such Chinese-origin reactor to be converted outside of China, the agency said. Ghanaian researchers have noted that this reactor is the first of five worldwide to work towards conversion, ultimately through repatriation of the reactor’s HEU core to China and installation of the new LEU core in its place.
The NNSA said it is now working with Nigeria, China, and the IAEA to convert Nigeria’s MNSR reactor next year.
