Map of Radioisotope Production and Batan Research Reactor Utilization

Abstract

Currently, Indonesia through BATAN is operating three research reactors, namely the RSG-GAS reactor with the power of 30 MWt at Puspiptek south Tangerang (the first criticality in 1987), the TRIGA 2000 reactor with the power of 2 MW in Bandung which the first criticality in 1965 with the power of 250 kW, was increased to 1 MW in 1971, and further upgraded to 2 MW in 2000. Beside that, there is Kartini reactor with a power of 100 kW located in Yogyakarta (first criticality in 1979). These reactors are quite old, and in accordance with Bapeten regulations, have carried out the first periodic safety review, to obtain a reactor license for the next 10 years of operation. In line with this, one of BATAN's current national research programs is to increase the production of radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, where reactors play a very important role in the production of certain isotopes. In tracing the data obtained from operational reports related to irradiation requests from reactor users, namely PTRR, PSTNT, and PT INUKI for radioisotope production, which has been carried out in the last 5 years, May 2015 until 25 August 2020, show that the irradiation request at RSG-GAS is still not optimal. In term of the utilization of RSG-GAS, it can still be optimized, which in this case needs to be balanced with post-irradiation processing capabilities. Meanwhile, from the results of tracing and data collection, it can be shown that at this time the reactors are still operating. The utilization activities of the reactors complement each other according to their age and facilities.

Assessment of Operation Safety of the RSG-Gas Reactor to Serve Radioisotope Target Irradiation

“…Those targets are to be used for radioisotope production. This is a continuation utilization program from the previous cores [14,19,26,30]. The mass of the targets is mostly lower than the mass values in their safety analysis report.…”

“…The calculated thermal neutron flux is 2.4 x 10 14 n.cm -2 s -1 in the central irradiation position, 1.4 x 10 14 n.cm -2 s -1 in the active core irradiation position and 1.1 x 10 14 n.cm -2 .s -1 in the beryllium reflector irradiation position. The in-core and out-of-core irradiation positions are arranged to support research, and development activities [14][15][16] is illustrated in Figure 1.…”

Evaluation on Structure, System, and Component Qualification in the Periodic Safety Review of RSG-GAS

“…RSG-GAS is a multipurpose research reactor with nominal thermal power of 30 MW and flux of 1014 n/cm2s. RSG-GAS is operated for research and development of fuel and other purposes such as irradiation target for production of radioisotopes, including Molibdenum-99 (Mo-99), Iodine-131 (I-131), , and other radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine and industry applying nondestructive assay technology [4]. RSG-GAS utilizes 40 fresh fuel elements and 8 control elements with 19.75% uranium enrichment.…”