Forschungsreaktor 2 (FR2)

Forschungsreaktor 2 (FR2) ("Research Reactor 2") was the first nuclear reactor builtin and by Germany after restrictions on nuclear research imposed as a result of the
Second World War were lifted in 1955. Construction was started in 1957in Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen/BW. The organization charged withthe project evolved into the "Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK)" (Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre),which in turn evolved into the present day Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.

FR2 operations ceased in 1981. Today (2005), the reactor core is contained, and theauxiliary buildings have been demolished or are being used for non-nuclear researchactivities, mostly in micro process engineering, which usesmanufacturing technologies that originated from mechanical microstructuring processesthat had been developed in the context of nuclear technologies (isotope separation).