National Scientific User Facility
In April 2007, the ATR was designated a "National Scientific User Facility" to encourage use of the reactor by universities, laboratories, and industry. This status is intended to stimulate experiments to extend the life of existing commercial reactors and encourage nuclear power development. These experiments will test "materials, nuclear fuel, and instruments that operate in the reactors." Under this program, experimenters will not have to pay to perform experiments at the reactor, but are required to publish their findings. The interest from the academic community was seen at the 2009 ATR NSUF User's Week Conference, held in Idaho Falls, that attracted 32 different universities. There were five different university experiments assigned to the ATR in 2008, and another two in 2009.
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