PLUTO reactor

PLUTO was a nuclear reactor at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom, one of five reactors on the site.

It was based on the design of DIDO and used enriched uranium metal fuel, and heavy water as both neutron moderator and primary coolant. There was also a graphite neutron reflector surrounding the core.

PLUTO was the third DIDO class reactor to become operational, after DIDO itself and HIFAR.

The 26 MW PLUTO reactor went online in 1957 and was shut down in 1990. It is expected to be completely dismantled by 2024.

Both PLUTO and DIDO were used initially to test materials for use in commercial reactors, but latterly as intense neutron sources for diffractometry and the investigation of crystal structures.

ee also

*List of nuclear reactors

During the 1960's and 1970's PLUTO was used as a source of neutrons for crystallography. Numbers of machine were built around the reactor and used by university research groups. One such was the Triple Axis machine. A beam of neutron struck a crystal and were scattered in various directions according to their wavelength. The first machine axis could be rotated about the crystel so that a particular wavelength could be selected. The neutrons were collimated and impinged on the crystal under study which could itself be rotated about a second axis. Finally the scattered neutrons were detected by an both boron trifluoride and scintillation detectors wich rotated around the study crystal on a third axis. The Triple Axis could accommodate both room temperature and cryogenic samples.