Development
The foundations of OPAL began in 1997 when the Australian Government announced it would fund the construction of a research reactor to replace the country's first reactor, HIFAR.
ANSTO has managed the design and construction of the new reactor and it has met all the most stringent health, safety, security, environmental and quality assurance standards.
ANSTO signed a contract with the Argentine company INVAP S.E. and its Australian alliance partners, John Holland Construction and Engineering Pty Ltd and Evans Deakin Industries Limited, for the design, construction and commissioning of the replacement reactor on 13 July 2000.
INVAP was the Prime Contractor who undertook the design, procurement, installation and supervision of the commissioning and performance demonstration of the new reactor. The project was formally launched on 14 June 2000.
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) issued a licence to construct the reactor on 5 April 2002. An operating licence was issued on 14 July 2006 and OPAL first went critical at 11.25pm on 12 August 2006.
OPAL was officially opened in April 2007, the dawn of a new era for Australian science.