IAEA urges improvement of Philippine research reactor after successful safety tests

The Philippine Research Reactor-1 has been used as a facility for training and research.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has completed the commissioning tests and the launch of utilisation of the operational training of the Philippine Research Reactor-1 (PRR-1) Subcritical Assembly for Training, Education and Research (SATER) facility.

The IAEA team of experts has commended the Philippines’ commitment to safety and also endorsed improvement of the reactor’s safety protocols, personnel qualifications, maintenance systems, and requirements for periodic testing.

The Integrated Safety Assessment for Research Reactors (INSARR) mission to the PRR-1 SATER facility was managed for five days, at the request of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), a division of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Experts from China, the Netherlands, and the US conducted the mission and analysed the regulatory supervision, the management system, training and qualification, and technical specifications for nuclear reactors.

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Located at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, PRR-1 SATER is operated by the PNRI. The original reactor was shut down in 1988 but was reconstructed in 2017, reaching completion in 2021.

PRR-1 SATER specialises in facilities where a chain nuclear fission reaction is instigated and preserved through an external neutron source. To this day, it is used for training, experiments and education programmes for universities.