University research reactors: Issues and challenges

University research reactors are underutilized and, as a result, are being decommissioned. The reason for the lack of utilization is shown to be a chr onic inability to generate sufficient funds to procure and maintain state-o f-the-art instrumentation for prospective researchers. The role of these re actors in nuclear science/engineering education is explored and the rationa le for their continued operation is presented. It is argued that base finan cial support for both reactor operations and the technical support staff ne eded to interface with experimenters is necessary if these research facilit ies are not to be irretrievably lost from the educational infrastructure of the United States.