Between 1956 and 1963, the foundations for what would become SUERC were laid through a decade of collaboration and planning. In 1956, the UK acquired the Argonaut Reactor design from Argonne and developed the Hawker Siddeley “Jason” reactor, humorously dubbed “Just Another Source of Neutrons?”. Following a 1959 paper by…
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A £450,000 funding bid was submitted in August 1960, and in May 1961, approval was granted for three university reactors (London, Manchester–Liverpool, and Scotland). However, the project was briefly postponed due to financial constraints, until the December 1961 announcement that the Scottish project would indeed go ahead. The Scottish Research…
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On 13th November 1963, the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) was formally opened with a landmark ceremony held in the iconic Reactor Hall. The event brought together some of the most influential figures in science and academia of the time, including Sir John Cockcroft, one of the pioneers of…
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The UTR reactor at the Scottish Research Reactor Centre was designed as a water-moderated, graphite-reflected core, optimised for both teaching and advanced research. It utilised 90% enriched U-235 fuel in the form of aluminium-clad U₃O₈, with each plate containing around 22 g of fuel. Fuel elements were assembled in two banks…
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By 1970, the Scottish Research Reactor Centre (SRRC) had undergone a major phase of growth, transforming into a multidisciplinary research facility. A second block was added to accommodate new laboratories, including the rapidly expanding Isotope Geology Unit, which now housed nine staff members, two mass spectrometry systems, and plans for…
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