The PSI Hot Laboratory is the only Swiss laboratory authorised to handle large quantities of radioactive materials, including commercial and experimental nuclear fuels.
Your Partner for Radioactive Material Examinations
The nuclear facility Hotlab (HL) of PSI is operated by the Department Hot Laboratory (AHL), which is assigned to the Nuclear Energy and Safety Division (NES) as an independent organizational unit.
The PSI Hotlab is the only Swiss laboratory authorised by the Swiss safety authorities to handle large quantities of radioactive materials including commercial as well as experimental nuclear fuel.
The department AHL is certified according to ISO 9001:2015 (Registration 08-345-020)
Latest News from the Hotlab
60 years of the Hotlab
Switzerland’s longest-running nuclear facility, located at PSI, is celebrating its anniversary today.
Cooperation in reactor research
Copenhagen Atomics and the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have entered into a collaboration agreement on a thorium molten salt critical experiment.
Forensics: Quantitative tracing of Silicon in CRUD
Chalk River Unidentified Deposits (CRUD) are dissolved and suspended solids, product of the corrosion of structural elements in water circuits of nuclear reactors.
The chemical composition of CRUD is variable as it depends on the composition of the reactor’s structural material, as well as the types of refueling cycles. Recent internal investigations have found unexpected but significant Si-amount in CRUD. The chemical composition of CRUD holds key information for an improved understanding of CRUD formation and possible impact in fuel reliability and contamination prevention.
The standard analytical methods available in the hot laboratory did not allow an easy quantitative determination of the Si-amount in CRUD. A new innovative procedure has been developed and tested with synthetic CRUD name Syntcrud.
The adapted flex-fusion digestion method presented here is able to provide reliable concentrations of several elements within CRUD, including Si, which was not possible in methods used previously for ICPMS measurement.