27 Iowa State University Research Reactor

The UTR-10 was an Argonaut-type reactor using uranium enriched to 19,75% in 235U in a graphite-reflected, water-moderated core. It was designed and built in 1959 by the Advanced Technology Laboratories division of the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation. Initial reactor criticality came on December 31, 1959; operations officially ceased on May 15, 1998. The reactor was housed in the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory located on the west edge of the main campus of Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, Iowa. The facility is a two-story, three-level, brick building built in 1934 by the Department of Agriculture. It was deeded to the University in 1946. The reactor room housed the reactor (enclosed in a concrete biological shield), the process pit, the fuel storage pit, and a five-ton bridge crane.