Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor

Since the Laboratory's early days, Brookhaven's Medical Department has always boasted unique facilities. To meet scientists' needs for neutrons for medical research, the Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor (BMRR) was built. This reactor, which was the first in the nation to be constructed specifically for medical research, reached criticality on March 15, 1959 and continued operations until December, 2000. It produced a maximum neutron flux of about 20 trillion neutrons per square centimeter per second.

One of the reactor's four faces was equipped for the irradiation of large objects, while the holes that penetrated another face permitted irradiation of samples, activation analysis and production of short-lived radioisotopes. From the remaining two ports, streams of neutrons traveled to treatment rooms, for carefully controlled animal and clinical studies. The image (below, right) shows the reactor core glowing from Cherenkov radiation, which is produced by electrons traveling faster through water than light does. The dark vertical objects are control rods.

One of the treatments pioneered at this reactor was boron neutron capture therapy, or BNCT. This promising treatment was developed for use against glioblastoma multiforme, an otherwise untreatable and deadly form of brain cancer.

The BMRR was a 5 megawatt, modified tank-type reactor with curved-plate fuel elements made of a uranium-aluminum alloy containing 12% (by weight) enriched uranium. The reactor core was within an aluminum vessel surrounded by an air-cooled graphite reflector and a biological shield. The core was cooled and moderated by high purity water at a flow rate of 1,270 gallons per minute and a pressure of 3 to 4 psi. The water flowed upward, primarily to allow the decay of short-lived isotopes (produced by neutron interaction with the oxygen in the water) to occur in the expanded upper shielded portion of the reactor vessel. This system eliminated the need for heavy shielding of external parts of the coolant piping. Nuclear reactions in the core were controlled by four boron-containing stainless steel rods that fit into sleeves installed between fuel elements.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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