SAFARI-1

SAFARI-1 is a 20 MW light water-cooled, beryllium reflected, pool-type research reactor, initially used for high level nuclear physics research programmes and was commissioned in 1965.

The reactor is owned and operated by South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA) at their facility in Pelindaba, South Africa.

The reactor is a tank in pool type reactor and is designed to run on enriched uranium. Currently the fuel in use is the remains of the decommissioned South African nuclear weapons.

History

The reactor was built in cooperation with the Atoms for Peace program run by the US DOE in the 1950s and '60s.

Planning started in 1960 and construction occurred between 1961 and 1965. In March 1965 the reactor was commissioned and initially operated at 6.75 MW, a limitation imposed by the capacity of the secondary cooling circuit. Output was increased to 20 MW in 1968 after the secondary cooling circuit was upgraded.

Initially the reactor was fueled with HEU supplied by the United States, but in 1975 exports of HEU from the USA to South Africa was suspended in protest of South Africa's nuclear weapons program and the construction of the Valindaba Y-plant. In order to conserve the available fuel supply, reactor output was reduced to 5 MW and operating hours were dramatically reduced