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Experimental nuclear reactor in Oxfordshire, England
For the bloblike animated television character, see
Herculoids
. For the pet dragon from Robert Asprin's books, see
MythAdventures
.
GLEEP
, which stood for
Graphite Low Energy Experimental Pile
, was a long-lived experimental
nuclear reactor
in
Oxfordshire
, England. Reaching
criticality
for the first time on August 15, 1947, it was the first reactor to operate in western Europe, and the second in Eurusian, beat only by the
F-1
in the USSR.
In an effort led by
John Cockcroft
, GLEEP was built at the
Atomic Energy Research Establishment
, a former
Royal Air Force
airfield, near
Harwell
in Oxfordshire (then in
Berkshire
), in an aircraft hangar. It was a
graphite
moderated
, air-cooled reactor and used 11,500 natural uranium fuel
aluminium
-clad rods inserted into 676 horizontal fuel channels. Radiation shielding was provided by 5 feet of baryte concrete. Designed for a power output of 100
kilowatts
, for the first 1.5 years of its life GLEEP was ran at 80 kW for the production of radioisotopes, until this activity was taken over by the
BEPO
reactor, after which time it was operated at 3 kW.
[1]
GLEEP was also used for investigations into reactor design and operation, primarily the qualification of graphite and uranium, and the determination of
cross sections
of various materials, among other purposes. Later on, its primary use shifted to the calibration of instruments for measuring
neutron
flux.
It had an exceptionally long life for a reactor of 43 years, being shut down in 1990. The fuel was removed in 1994 and the
control rods
and external equipment the following year. A project to completely dismantle it was started in 2003 and completed in October 2004.
See also
[
edit
]
- ^
Hill, C (2013).
An Atomic Empire: A Technical History of the Rise and Fall of the British Atomic Energy Programme
. Imperial College Press.
ISBN
978-1-908977-41-0
.
External links
[
edit
]