The Omega West Reactor: Design basis and physics measurements

The Omega West Reactor (OWR) has been operated by the Los Alamos National Laboratory without accident or major operational incident since August, 1956. The OWR is, perhaps, one of the few remaining US reactors that was not built to a set of standards but was designed to the experience base of several reactors that had been operated during the late 1940`s and early 1950`s. In addition, physics parameters were measured during its lifetime in somewhat unusual but innovative ways. The design approach and physics measurements are summarized in this report.