DIDO

Dido was also the name of the ancient queen of Carthage and of the singer/songwriter Dido Armstrong (b. 1971). For other uses, see Dido (disambiguation)

DIDO was a nuclear reactor at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. It used enriched uranium metal fuel, and heavy water as both neutron moderator and primary coolant. There was also a graphite neutron reflector surrounding the core.

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In the design phase, DIDO was known as AE334 after its engineering design number.

DIDO was designed to have a high neutron flux, largely to reduce the time required for testing of materials intended for use in nuclear power reactors. This also allowed for the production of intense beams of neutrons for use in neutron diffraction.

In all, six DIDO class reactors were constructed based on this design:

• DIDO.
• HIFAR (Australia).
• PLUTO, also at Harwell.
• Dounreay Materials Testing Reactor (DMTR) at Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment in Scotland.
• One at Jülich Research Centre (Germany), also confusingly called DIDO.
• DR-3 at Risø National Laboratory (Denmark).

HIFAR was the last to shut down, in 2007.

See also

• List of nuclear reactors