ANNUAL REPORT

1981

IRAQI ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION

PREFACE

The Iraqi nuclear programme was initiated in the late fifties with the establishment of the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) in 1956. The major accomplishment of the Commission was the establishment of the Nuclear Research Centre (NRC). The Centre was built around a 2MW swimming pool reactor which has been upgraded recently to 5MW.

The emphasis on the medical applications of radioactive isotopes was apparent from the start of the programme. It manifested itself through the establishment of the radioisotope medical institute and the centre for nuclear medicine, which were equipped for both diagnostic and therapeutic treatments. This endeavor was further augmented with the establishment of a nuclear medical centre in Mosul and another centre is under construction in Basrah.

At present, the NRC comprises the main research and development activities and aims to enlarge the applications of radioisotopes to domestic problems in medicine, agriculture and industry. The centre also collaborates with academic and other scientific establishments. The highlights of its activities are reflected in the following departments.

CONTENTS

• TAMMUZ RESEARCH REACTOR BEFORE THE ISRAELI AIR ATTACK

• UPGRADING OF THEIR IRAQI IRT REACTOR

• THE NUCLEAR RESEARCH CENTRE

Agriculture and Biology
Chemistry
Computer
Health Physics
Physics
Radioisotopes Production
Reactor
Engineering Services

RESEARCH ABSTRACTS

TAMMUZ RESEARCH REACTOR BEFORE THE ISRAELI AIR ATTACK

On Sunday (a working day in Iraq, not a holiday as alleged) 7 June 1981, Israeli war planes air-raided the Iraqi Nuclear Research Centre and destroyed the Tammuz research reactor installation. The motive behind this action, as Begin alleged, was to prevent Iraq from acquiring nuclear weapons through the use of this reactor. Thus this valuable tool of research was turned into debris on the ground that it could have a potential for bomb-making.

Since the military attack, a large volume of information has been published. This included a considerable amount of technical information on the ill-fated reactor given by the French CEA and other sources. Nevertheless, we felt that a quick run over some of the technical details of the Tammuz installation would be a welcomed addition to the already existing data for those who care to make their own independent assessments and interpretations of events.

The Tammuz complex, located within the Iraqi Nuclear Research Centre, is a self-contained irradiation material testing and physics facility consisting (see the following diagram) primarily of: The Tammuz reactor installation (comprising of reactor Tammuz 1, the hotshop building, and reactor Tammuz 2), a medium activity measurement and analysis laboratory, a workshop building, a radioactive waste treatment station, and a group of the auxiliary building. The TZ1 reactor (40MW thermal) is of the OSIRIS pool type with extra addition of a heavy water tank and neutron beams designed for irradiation of various structural or fuel materials under fast or thermal neutron fluxes (i.e. , MTR research), source of neutrons for basic physics experiments, activation analysis and production of artificial radioisotopes. The TZ2 reactor (500 KW thermal) is of the ISIS pool type with an addition of a heavy watertank, acting as an exact neutronic mockup of TZ1. It is designed for measurements on core characteristics (reactivity, control, calibration, power and flux mapping, fuel management etc. ) besides being a neutron source for neutronography and various studies with neutrons. The hotshop building is situated between the TZ1 and TZ2 reactor buildings This building houses two hot-cells both of which are not alpha tight. It is useful for the disassembly of experimental devices and the extraction of irradiated samples (irradiated in reactor TZ1) before they are sent to the medium activity laboratory for post irradiation examination. The latter comprises of a number of hot cells, none of which is alpha-tight, designed primarily for destructive examination of irradiated elements (materials and to a lesser degree fuels) but excludes destructive examination of power station fuel element. The waste station is designed for processing and storage conditioning of liquid effluent and low activity solid waste. No provision has been taken in the design for handling high activity solid waste, nor the chemical analysis of large quantities of liquid effluents. The workshop facility is designed to give peripheral technical support to the irradiation experiments implanted inside the TZ1 reactor.

Typical MTR facilities used for experiments that can be carried out on the TZ1 reactor are devices for on-line examination, namely neutronography and gammametry facilities devices for irradiation of structural material such as zircaloy 4 tube stainless steel and other devices for irradiation of light water reactor fuel. TZ1 also has 6 neutron beam holes, three for thermal neutrons, and the rest are for fast neutrons. One thermal channel, TH3, is aimed at a vertical thimble (hydrogen) housed inside D₂0 tank, which after emerging into the NGBB neutron guide basement building at level-10 branches into two cold neutron guides. Typical condensed matter and nuclear physics experiments that can be carried out on these guides are neutron diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering and angular correlation measurements.

The TZ1 pool extends between elevations (0 to 11) and houses the reactor core assembly (tubular block, or the heart of the reactor designed to hold the fuel, which in April 1979 was the victim of sabotage at La Syne Sur Mer Factory, Toulen, France, a few days before it was destined to be shipped to Iraq), plus composite of irradiation rigs and capsules, reactor control startup and power chamber neutron beam sleeves, gammagraphy and neutronography.

With an integrated fast neutron fluence (over 1 MeV) of approximately 5x10²¹n/cm², normally required for testing materials such as graphite, steels, pressure tubes, cladding...,etc., and with reasonable irradiation time, it was found necessary to approach an instantaneous flux rate in excess of 5x10¹³n/cm² sec.

Moreover, the demand for higher specific power, longer use of the fuel inside the core, low neutron price etc...created the need to use highly enriched uranium. The fuel of TZ1 is, therefore, of proven design, MTR type with 24 flat plated (U-Al sintered powder with 26 %U). U²³⁵ enrichment is 93%, and the average burn up rate is 50%. The total U²³⁵ content for an equilibrium core load is 11 Kg. Further technical details are available in French documents published by the French CEA.

Irradiation experiments are stored or transferred underwater. For this purpose, three interconnecting canals are present. The spent fuel rack is located in canal No. 2 to allow for the 40 day iodine decay cooling. Shortly before the June bombardment, the TZ2 reactor irradiated fuel was stored in this rack. In response to a persistent request by the French, this fuel was transported away from canal No. 2 shortly before June 7th, 1981. The building housing this canal is neither depressurized nor leak-tight.

Had the irradiated TZ2 fuel not been transported from this canal, the situation would have been hazardous due to the contamination of radioactive gases and airborne particles.

For TZ1 reactor, the maximum allowable power depends in the hot channel factor (h. c. f.). The presence of both heavy water and beryllium reflector dictated maximum values of the h. c. f. 2.0 or 2.1 giving maximum possible power levels of 57 MW and 54 MW, respectively. It was, therefore, anticipated that the difference between the nominal 40 MW and the previous maximum allowable power provides a comfortable safety margin.

The NGBB is designed to house two neutron guides (cold neutron beams), and the floor is at level-10 (and not - 40 as has been alleged). For a 40 MW (th) T21 reactor power, it has been calculated that the neutron flux values at the old source (hydrogen thimble in D₂0 tank) are: fast (E_n>0.8MeV) about 4X10⁹n/cm²sec, epithermal (0.625eV-0.8MeV) about 1.5x10¹⁰n/cm²sec, and thermal (<0.625eV) about 2.5x10¹⁰n/cm²sec. The neutron flux downstream emerging into the NGBB hall is an hundred thousand times smaller than the upstream. This hardly makes it a convenient beam for fertile irradiation. However, it does make it a giant research tool for conducting condensed matter and neutron physics research. The NGBB was severely hit as a result of the bombardment.

The description given earlier is a very brief view of the peaceful nuclear installation that was destroyed by Israel. The following photographs show the reactor before and after bombing. We would like to raise the question what happens if such a highly irresponsible action is repeated since Israel still threatens Iraq and other countries as it desires?

Tammuz 1 Reactor Building After the Israeli Air Raid

UPGRADING OF THE IRAQI IRT REACTOR

General and Historical Background

The Iraqi reactor is of the Soviet IRT type. It went critical at Tuwaitha late 1967, and brought to 2MW (th) power at the beginning of 1968. The pool liner is made of aluminum alloy, and the fuel assemblies are of pin-type EK-10 and EK-36 fuel (U²³⁵ enrichment 10% and 36%), respectively. The reactor has 10 horizontal beam ports and a number of in-core and ex-core vertical irradiation channels. The maximum thermal neutron flux in the central vertical channel is 3.2x10¹³n/cm²sec.

In the mid seventies, the aluminum pool liner suffered from some corrosion malfunction in the vicinity of one of the beam ports penetration through the pool. As a consequence the IAEC initiated a two-phase programme. The first phase was to regain the integrity of the water-tightness of the pool liner by recoating with stainless steel. The second phase was to update the reactor pool internals, core grid, ejector, fuel and cooling systems in order to upgrade the reactor power to 5MW (th).

THE 5MW (th) REACTOR
Reactor Description

The reactor went critical mid 1978 and brought to 5MW(th) power two months later. This is an updated version of the IRT-2 MW(th) reactor comprising the pool, a hot cell for dismantling the irradiated isotope samples, a primary and secondary pump house, and associated auxiliaries which are all housed inside the reactor building. The pool and the biological shield extend from level zero to 8m, and housed inside the reactor hall.

The pool tank is a stainless-steel liner (oval shaped) separated from the old aluminum liner by concrete mortar. The pool and the primary cooling system is serviced by demineralized water, and the direction of core forced cooling is downward. The primary flow through the core is boosted by a jet-pump arrangement known as the ejector, placed at the bottom of the pool. The pool internals comprise the core drum, primary pipe work and ejector, deactivation tank, neutron beam sleeves, vertical irradiation channels, control rod sleeves and perforated platform, all reconstructed during reactor upgrading.

Reactor Core, Fuel, Control and Flux Values

The core grid is an aluminum alloy rack mounted at the bottom of the pool with 56 square compartments. The fuel is of the IRT-M type (U-Al alloy with 80% enriched U²³⁵). The fuel assemblies are tubular thus presenting a major deviation from the old EK-10 pin type fuel. Three types of fuel assemblies are provided: 4-tube without removable central element, 4-tube with removable central element, and 3-tube assembly accommodating a control rod at the centre. A typical working load configuration features a core of 26 fuel assemblies. These are 4 beryllium blocks at the centre (neutron trap), 18-beryllium block reflectors around the three sides of the core periphery and a lead shield on the core side facing the thermal column for y - attenuation. The core can also be loaded with aluminum displacement units of two types, those having air cavities intended as dummies during up core loading, and those without air cavities designed to hold an experimental irradiation container. A water reflected core contains 3.49 Kg of U²³⁵, whereas a beryllium reflected one takes up 4.26 Kg of U²³⁵.

There are 9 control rods: 2 in safety mode, 6 for shim control, and one in a regulating mode, all driven by servodrives via guide rollers secured on the reactor platform. Recently, the control room instrumentation has been modernized with a more reliable, trouble-free and integrated circuit based compact and modular electronics.

For a 5MW (th) reactor power, the maximum thermal neutron flux for a load of 24 fuel assemblies and a water reflector in the neutron trap is 1.55x10¹⁴n/cm²sec.

Isotope Production and Experimental Facilities

There are a number of vertical irradiation channels which serve for irradiation of different materials and production of isotopes. There are also 10 horizontal neutron beam ports: 6 radial, one tangential, and one thermal.

The neutrons are presently being used for nuclear spectroscopic studies, (n, n'y) reactions of fast neutrons, solid state physics studies and activation analysis.

THE NUCLEAR RESEARCH CENTRE

The Nuclear Research Centre (NRC) is considered to be the major establishment of the IAEC. It comprises the main research and development activities in different fields with emphasis on the applications of radioisotopes to problems in the areas of medicine, agriculture and industry. The highlights of the centre are reflected in the activities of the following departments:

AGRICULTURE AND BIOLOGY

The department of agriculture and biology started its programme more than ten years ago and has made good progress in many areas of agricultural and biological research.

The research programme in this department is conducted in several areas including plant breeding, soil sciences, insect control, plant diseases, biochemistry, food irradiation, food science and microbiology. There are live sections in this department which are closely cooperating with each other.

This programme puts emphasis on field crops improvement, insects and plant diseases control and the behaviour of radionuclides in soil. In the field of food irradiation, biochemistry and microbiology, research activities are directed toward understanding and improvement of various biological processes.

CHEMISTRY

The chemistry department is engaged in research on various aspects of radio and analytical chemistry. The activities in radiochemistry are concerned with problems related to solvent extraction of a number of metal ions using already known and newly synthesized extractants.

The analytical chemistry main activities are directed toward providing the chemical analyses required by various research projects of the organization as well as developing some analytical procedures. Water analyses are also regularly conducted on weekly basis with the aim of understanding the chemical characteristics of the Tigris and Diyala rivers which are the main water resources that affect the chemical parameters of industrial and drinking water used in the organization. In addition to this, regular analyses of reactor cooling water have been carried out for the purpose of quality control of chemical specification.

COMPUTER

This department is responsible for providing computer services to other research and administrative departments within the IAEC. The department also provides personnel training toward the utilization of the computer facilities.

There are two computer systems available to users. One is an IBM 370/135 with operating system OS/VS1 and the other is an HP 1000 - MX21, E-type with operating system OS RTE III.

HEALTH PHYSICS

This department is concerned with the safety and protection of personnel at the IAEC from radioactive hazards. One of the primary services of this department is the monitoring of daily radiation doses to personnel by film badges and pencil monitors. Additional services include the radiation safety inspection of research and other working areas, handling and disposing of radioactive waste, and the participation in implementing of training courses for radiation protection in cooperation with the Training Department.

The department is also engaged in research activities which include the total body burden of natural and industrial radioactivity with the use of a whole body counter and environmental studies of radioactive pollution.

PHYSICS

The research and development activities earned out in the physics department include the experimental study of the physical properties of crystalline and non-crystalline material using neutron and x-ray sources as well as optical methods. Theoretical and experimental research on the structure and properties of nuclei and their reactions is also carried out in this department. The department devotes part of its activities towards theoretical reactor calculations.

RADIOISOTOPES PRODUCTION

The major activities of the department are concerned with the production of a number of radioactive isotopes and labeled compounds as well as the production of pharmaceuticals to be labeled with ^99mTc in the from of kits and radioimmunoassay kits. Moreover, research and development in the fields of radiopharmaceuticals and radioimmunoassay and attempts to produce some reference and industrial sources are among other activities of the department.

REACTOR

This department is centered around a reactor of the IRT 2000KW (th) type which was upgraded recently to 5000KW(th) power. Reactor neutrons are utilized for (n, n'y), (n,y), neutron diffraction studies and for isotope production purposes. In addition to this, a study on the possible utilization of one of the reactor channels for pneumatics is being carried out. A 14 - MeV pulsed-type sealed tube (BS2) neutron generator with a neutron flux of (10⁹ - 10¹¹) neutrons/cm²sec is available and used for studies involving lifetime measurements in different moderators.

ENGINEERING SERVICES

The engineering services division is concerned with mechanical, electronics and control, electrical power and civil works. Such services include the operation and maintenance of the local utility systems and provide the necessary engineering and technical services required by the IAEC.