Renovation of decommissioned reactor building begins

摘要

After more than a decade of decontaminating and decommissioning the Ford Nuclear Reactor, the University of Michigan on September 17 began a $12-million renovation of the former reactor building with a "wall-breaking" ceremony for the university's new Nuclear Engineering Laboratory. Ronald Gilgenbach, professor and chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, said, "The Nuclear Engineering Laboratory will provide new, world-class research spaces to enable Michigan faculty and students to make major impacts on nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear reactor safety, and homeland security." The Ford Nuclear Reactor, which operated from 1957 to 2003, was a 2-MW open-pool research reactor that used enriched uranium-235 aluminum-based fuel. According to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission historical site assessment, the reactor building is a windowless, four-story, reinforced-concrete building with 12-inch-thick walls.