Education and training activities at North Carolina State University's PULSTAR reactor

Research reactor utilization has been an integral part of the North Carolina State University's (NCSU's) nuclear engineering program since its inception. The undergraduate curriculum has a strong teaching laboratory component. Graduate classes use the reactor for selected demonstrations, experiments, and projects. The reactor is also used for commercial power reactor operator training programs, neutron radiography, neutron activation analysis (NAA), and sample and tracer activation for industrial short courses and services as part of the university's land grant mission. The PULSTAR reactor is a 1-MW pool-type reactor that uses 4% enriched UO{sub 2} pellet fuel in Zircaloy II cladding. Standard irradiation facilities include wet exposure ports, a graphite thermal column, and a pneumatic transfer system. In the near term, general facility upgrades include the installation of signal isolation and computer data acquisition and display functions to improve the teaching and research interface with the reactor. In the longer term, the authors foresee studies of new core designs and the development of beam experiment design tools. These would be used to study modifications that may be desired at the end of the current core life and to undertake the development of new research instruments.