Future plans for the Imperial College CONSORT research reactor

The Imperial College (IC) research? reactor was designed jointly by GEC and the IC Mechanical Engineering Department. It first,vent critical on 9 Apri l 1965 and has been operating successfully fbr over 33 years. The reactor p rovides a service to both academia and industry for neutron on activation a nalysis, reactor and applied nuclear physics training, neutron detector cal ibration, isotope production and irradiations. The reactor has strategic im portance for the UK, as it is now the only remaining, research reactor in t he country. It is therefore important to put in place refurbishment program mes and to maintain and upgrade the safety case. This paper describes the c urrent facilities, applications and users of the research reactor and outli nes both the recent and the planned developments.