International Conference on Research Reactors:
Safe Management and Effective Utilization

14-18 November 2011, Rabat, Morocco

BR2 is a 100 MW tank type material test reactor which reached its first criticality on 29 June 1961 and is in power operation since January 1963. Since then, the reactor has been subject to an important number of maintenance and modernization projects. Its beryllium core has been replaced two times and a major power upgrade was made in 1972 by replacement of the primary heat exchangers. The operating license of BR2 prescribes a periodical safety review every ten year. According to the directives of the Belgian regulator (Federal Agency for Nuclear Control - FANC), the operator starts the periodical safety review by proposing a list of subjects to be evaluated. The subjects have to be long term items, which are not covered by the normal routine operation. These items could be the consequence of new practices, return of experience, important modifications, upgrades, ageing management … This article describes how the list of items are defined in cooperation with the authorities. The final list consisted of 19 items. For each of the selected subjects a detailed description of the issue was written. Each chart contained information about the safety relevance, the applicable rules and the shortcomings together with a plan for further action. The actions could be further analysis, change in organization or hardware modifications. The execution of the action plans is closely followed by the authorities. The two most important items are the follow up of the beryllium matrix and the inspection of the reactor vessel, since these two items are mentioned in the license. Some of the items which were analyzed led to improvements. Other items were subject of further analysis, but without significant modifications to the installation and a few items had to answer organizational aspects. A special subject is the conversion of the core to the use of low enriched uranium. Due to events in Fukushima, Japan, and the questions about the resistance of nuclear reactor against severe external events, a last paragraph will be devoted to the application at BR2

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