Open-pool Australian lightwater reactor

The Open-pool Australian lightwater reactor (OPAL) is a 20 megawatt (MW) pool-type nuclear research reactor. Officially opened in April 2007, it replaced the High Flux Australian Reactor as Australia's only nuclear reactor, and is located at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) Research Establishment in Lucas Heights, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney. Both OPAL and its predecessor have been commonly known as simply the Lucas Heights reactor, after their location.

The main reactor uses are:

The reactor runs on an operation cycle of 30 days non-stop at full power, followed by a stop of 5 days to reshuffle the fuel.

During year 2014 OPAL ran a total of 290 days at power, and over 300 days in 2015, which represents a world-leading level of availability.

The Argentine company INVAP was fully responsible through a turnkey contract, signed in June 2000, for the delivery of the reactor, performing the design, construction and commissioning. Local civil construction was performed by INVAP's partner, John Holland-Evans Deakin Industries. The facility features a large (20-litre) liquid-deuterium cold neutron source, modern supermirror guides, and a 35 m × 65 m guide hall. The cold source was designed by the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, the cryogenic system designed and supplied by Air Liquide and the initial set of four supermirror guides supplied by Mirrotron.

OPAL was opened on 20 April 2007 by then Australian Prime Minister John Howard and is the replacement for the HIFAR reactor. ANSTO received an operating licence from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) in July 2006, allowing commencement of hot commissioning, where fuel is first loaded into the reactor core. OPAL went critical for the first time on the evening of 12 August 2006 and reached full power for the first time on the morning of the 3rd of November 2006.

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