Nuclear Reactor Program, Department of Nuclear Engineering

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The PULSTAR is a 1-MW pool-type nuclear research reactor which is administered by the Nuclear Reactor Program and located in Burlington Laboratory on the N.C. State north campus. The NC State reactor is one of two PULSTAR reactors built, and the only one still in operation. The other reactor was a 2 MW reactor at the University of Buffalo, which went critical in 1964 and was decommissioned in 1994.

The PULSTAR fuel is 4% enriched, pin-type fuel consisting of uranium dioxide pellets in zircaloy cladding (see reactor specifications). This fuel gives the PULSTAR Reactor response characteristics that are very similar to commercial light water power reactors. These characteristics allow teaching experiments to measure moderator temperature and power reactivity coefficients including doppler feedback.

The heavy fuel load in the PULSTAR, combined with a relatively high fuel-to-moderator ratio, results in high fast neutron leakage at the core boundary. This causes a large thermal neutron "reflector hump" at the core periphery, (see Figure #1 below) yielding high thermal neutron fluxes at the sample irradiation facilities and beamports (see Table #1 below).