Physics at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation

Abstract

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation is Australia’s nuclear national laboratory and is the prime repository of nuclear expertise in the country. It plays a key role in research, operation of major facilities,isotope production and advice to Government. It was founded in 1987, as the successor to the Australian Atomic Energy Commission, which had existed from 1952. For almost 50 years, from 1958 until 2006, the AAEC and ANSTO operated the HIFAR heavy-water reactor, the second research reactor to be established in Asia, the first after India. Initially the AAEC’s focus was on nuclear power and nuclear fuel cycle issues, but in the ANSTO era, the focus has shifted towards the technological use of nuclear methods in medicine, the environment and science more generally. © 2015, Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies.