Helium Pumps

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/6.3 · 0.6s · ISO 64
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Large helium pumps occupy a chamber within the ANSTO HIFAR reactor. Their robust grey forms stand as remnants of the facility's operational past. Rust and dust now cover surfaces that once ensured critical cooling.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

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Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Helium Pumps
Series: ANSTO HIFAR
Catalogue: AHF-010
Process: Giclée
Captured: 7 October 2022
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter: 0.6s s
ISO: 64
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Lucas Heights, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: National Trust of Australia (NSW), 2016 Heritage Award, Multimedia

02 LOCATION

Lucas Heights, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

Helium pumps occupy a chamber within the HIFAR reactor building at Lucas Heights. The pumps are heavy industrial units, painted in the pale grey of post-war industrial plant, mounted on concrete plinths. Pipework feeds from the pumps to the helium circuit serving the heavy water plant. The pumps are silent. Surfaces carry the accumulated dust and rust of a decade of disuse since the reactor was shut down.

HIFAR ran with a helium gas blanket sitting over the surface of the heavy water in the primary cooling circuit. The blanket removed the deuterium and oxygen produced by radiolysis of the heavy water under neutron irradiation. The helium system was part of the standard DIDO-class reactor architecture. HIFAR operated as a DIDO-class reactor from criticality on 26 January 1958 to permanent shutdown on 30 January 2007, the last of the six DIDO-class reactors built worldwide to cease operation.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

The helium pumps at ANSTO HIFAR supplied purified helium to the reactor via a pair of double-acting diaphragm pumps. This system played a vital role in reactor maintenance by passing helium across the surface of the heavy water inside the reactor tank, collecting water vapor and preventing corrosion that could introduce contamination.

Brett Patman

The series

ANSTO HIFAR

2022 · 49 photographs

HIFAR, the High Flux Australian Reactor, was Australia's first nuclear reactor. It went critical at 11:15 pm on Sunday 26 January 1958 and ran for forty-nine years and four days before being permanently shut down on 30 January 2007. The reactor was the last of six DIDO-class research reactors built worldwide to cease operation.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.