Editing TRIGA (section)

==Design==

TRIGA is a [[swimming pool reactor]] that can be installed without a [[containment building]], and is designed for research and testing use by scientific institutions and universities for purposes such as undergraduate and graduate education, private commercial research, non-destructive testing and [[isotope]] production.

The TRIGA reactor uses [[uranium zirconium hydride]] (UZrH) fuel, which has a large, prompt negative [[fuel temperature coefficient of reactivity]], meaning that as the temperature of the core increases, the reactivity rapidly decreases. Because of this unique feature, it has been safely pulsed at a power of up to 22,000 megawatts.<ref>[http://www.ga.com/triga TRIGA® Nuclear Reactors]  General Atomics</ref>  The hydrogen in the fuel is bound in the uranium zirconium hydride crystal structure with a vibrational energy of 0.14eV.<ref>[https://ansn.iaea.org/Common/documents/Training/TRIGA%20Reactors%20(Safety%20and%20Technology)/pdf/chapter1.pdf TRIGA® Nuclear Reactors]  General Atomics</ref> When the core is hot, these levels fill and transfer energy to any cooler neutrons making them hot and, therefore, less reactive. TRIGA was originally designed to be fueled with [[highly enriched uranium]], but in 1978 the [[US Department of Energy]] launched its [[Reduced Enrichment for Research Test Reactors]] program, which promoted reactor conversion to [[low-enriched uranium]] fuel.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Argonne National Laboratory |title=RERTR Radiological Threat Reduction Program |url=http://www.rertr.anl.gov/ |access-date=2013-12-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Threat Reduction Initiative - Strategic Plan January 2009 |url=https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0907/ML090790171.pdf |access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref>