What we know about Australia's only live nuclear reactor

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Australia's only nuclear reactor opened more than 60 years ago. With nuclear energy production banned, what is it used for?

Australians will debate whether to give nuclear power the green light at the next federal election, but many may not know a nuclear reactor has been operating about 40km south of Sydney's CBD for decades. As the Opposition announced seven proposed sites for its nuclear transition plan on Wednesday morning, it pointed to Lucas Heights as a success story.

The Lucas Heights reactor was originally built as a research laboratory, testing different materials for a future nuclear power program. It evolved to become a research facility crucial for the medical community. Lucas Heights is a radioactive medicine factory that uses its OPAL nuclear reactor to crash atoms into uranium plates to produce different substances. This includes vials of radioactive Molybdenum-99 which decays to form Technetium-99m.

 

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