The Nuclear Reactor within the Center of Prague

Sure, you learn it proper. There’s a nuclear reactor within the capital of the Czech Republic. Situated lower than 7 minutes from Wenceslas Sq. and fewer than 5 minutes from Prague Zoo, the reactor is hidden within the School of Arithmetic and Physics of Charles College constructing. It’s a nuclear reactor with the designation VR-1, familiarly referred to as VRABEC (Sparrow). Its operator is the School of Nuclear and Bodily Engineering of the Czech Technical College, Division of Nuclear Reactors. Each universities cooperate intently within the operation and use of the reactor. The rationale why the Czech Technical College reactor is operated within the constructing of Charles College is straightforward: extra room for experiments and proximity to the river.

A bright blue glow, Cherenkov radiation, is produced when a charged particle moves through space at speeds faster than the speed of light in that environment. And it is this phenomenon that the Nuclear Reactors Department of the Faculty of Nuclear and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague demonstrated to students at its VR-1 Vrabec school reactor in early November 2021 — The coaching reactor VR-1 of the School of Nuclear Sciences and Bodily Engineering Czech Technical College in Prague is a light-weight water, zero-power analysis reactor with enriched uranium. All pictures: CTU / School of Nuclear Sciences and Bodily Engineering.

By working the nuclear reactor, the CTU in Prague has joined the few dozen universities worldwide that function nuclear reactors. However the reactor doesn’t solely serve college students from CTU and Charles College. It’s also utilized by college students from six Czech universities, primarily inside the CENEN (Czech Nuclear Schooling Community) affiliation. Lengthy-term cooperation additionally exists with colleges from Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria. Yearly, 250 college students throughout the area are concerned in initiatives involving the Sparrow.

And that’s the major goal of the Sparrow. It’s not used for energy era, as with massive energy reactors, however primarily for scientific analysis, coaching, and training of specialists and working personnel for nuclear services.

A nuclear future – made in Prague?

The precise development of the reactor was preceded by a few years of planning. The primary makes an attempt to construct an experimental college reactor started within the Nineteen Sixties. Nevertheless, these proposals had been purely theoretical. The development work of Sparrow began in April 1985, and it was accomplished by early 1990. The primary take a look at and the prolonged testing interval started in November 1990 and lasted two years. The reactor has been in steady operation since 1992.

Sadly, no extra experimental reactors have been constructed within the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, Sparrow has just lately impressed the additional growth of a unique type of nuclear expertise: Small Modular Reactors. Sparrow proved that smaller nuclear reactors might function safely for many years. Even in metropolis facilities. Its smaller measurement and decrease energy (as much as 5 kWh) don’t change this. It’s nonetheless a nuclear reactor utilizing enriched uranium as gas.

Sparrow could change into a pioneer within the business use of small modular reactors, and his story will change into an argument for his or her security and broad applicability. And if his story goes unheard, it is not going to change his deserves. He has, in any case, educated 1000’s of specialists within the area of nuclear energy throughout his lifetime.