The Czech Republic’s State Office for Nuclear Safety has issued a siting licence for a new training reactor to be built by the Czech Technical University in Prague.
The VR-2 subcritical pool reactor, scheduled for operation at the end of 2022, will expand the university’s education, training and experimental capacity. Funding for the project will be provided by the Czech government and the European Operational Programme for Research, Development and Education.
The new reactor will use EK-10 fuel elements donated by Aalto University in Finland with natural or 10% enrichment and a light-water moderator.
The VR-2 will complement the existing VR-1 reactor, which has been used for education, training and experimental purposes for 30 years.
The VR-1 reached first criticality in December 1990 and is used for university education and the training of nuclear professionals. It is operated by the CTU’s faculty of nuclear sciences and physical engineering.
