AGN-201M: Using Low Power Training Reactors in Education

The AGN reactor type was supposed to be a workhorse of nuclear education in the sixties, with dozens of units being produced and sold around the USA and overseas. However, nowadays only 4 units are fully operational, the rest has been mothballed or decommissioned. In 2010 Texas A&M University made the AGN-201M again part of its education program, after years of reactor inactivity. This very recent practical experience from Texas A&M shows that AGN-201M can be successfully used for undergraduate and graduate nuclear education and new educational methods can be implemented on the reactor. The paper demonstrates new experimental classes developed for the reactor and may serve as an idea for other mothballed AGNs or training reactors worldwide.