Broad spectrum usage of the UFTR for student research

The University of Florida training reactor (UFTR) is a 100-kW light-water-cooled, graphite- and light-water-moderated argonaut-type reactor. Although currently fueled with highly enriched (93% {sup 235}U) fuel, conversion to low-enriched fuel is planned within 2 yr. The core of this reactor is composed of six fuel boxes in which flow is constrained to a loop containing a coolant storage tank and a heat exchanger versus the usual pool configuration with stacked shielding limiting core access. Since first licensed to operate at 10 kW in 1959 and then at the present 100-kW limit in 1969, this non-power reactor facility has been actively involved in a broad but ever-evolving spectrum of teaching, training, research, and service projects, especially in recent years. Not only has there been a major shift from utility operator training over the past decade, but there has been a gradual evolution from usage for graduate nuclear engineering laboratory courses to laboratory usage at the undergraduate level and in several disciplines, especially including radiological engineering/health physics, which now constitutes a significant component in the University of Florida Department of Nuclear Engineering Sciences.