RARE OVERHAUL OF POWERFUL US NUCLEAR TEST REACTOR COMPLETED

Scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory have completed a rare overhaul of one of the world’s most powerful nuclear test reactors and normal operations are expected to resume later this spring, officials said this week.

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The 11-month outage at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Test Reactor, or ATR, in eastern Idaho allowed a core overhaul that’s done, on average, about every 10 years. The changeout was the sixth since the reactor started operating in 1967 and the first in 17 years.

“Overall, I’m very pleased with the ATR workforce and teamwork they demonstrated during the longest and most complex outage in our history,” said Sean O’Kelly, associate lab director for the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor Complex.