Updating research reactors to meet the growing needs of today’s world

Due to the diverse uses of research reactors compared to power reactors, a variety of safety aspects must be considered in their design and operation. On the other hand, due to the high age of a large percentage of these reactors, the need to update them in order to respond to the growing needs of today’s society is inevitable. One of the items that increase the features in terms of proliferation, economy, usability, security and nuclear to meet the requirements of today’s society is core conversion. The advantages and necessities of using new fuel in research reactors include the possibility of forming a more compact core, reducing operating costs, reducing security challenges, protection, environmental effects, transportation and end-of-cycle processes. In this study, the roadmap for research reactors core conversion is drawn considering all aspects of this issue which would be very useful for research reactor plan of any country especially our country.