Top Plate to Basement

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/7.1 · 0.4s · ISO 64
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A view of the full vertical scale of HIFAR at Lucas Heights, from the polar crane at the ceiling to the basement. The reactor block stands roughly 11 metres tall, with a maximum of 25 fuel elements. Neutron beam instruments occupy the surrounding levels.

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.

$100.00 AUD

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: Top Plate to Basement
Series: ANSTO HIFAR
Catalogue: AHF-033
Process: Giclée
Captured: 7 October 2022
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter: 0.4s 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: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Lucas Heights, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

A view of the full vertical scale of HIFAR at Lucas Heights, from the polar crane at the ceiling to the basement below. The reactor block stands roughly 11 metres tall, occupying the centre of the reactor hall. Neutron-beam instruments occupy the surrounding levels at the working floor, with the polar crane rails set above and the auxiliary plant arranged in the basement.

HIFAR was a DIDO-class research reactor designed by Head Wrightson Processes Ltd of Stockton-on-Tees, UK, and built at the 70-hectare Lucas Heights site in southern Sydney. The reactor was Australia's first and ran for 49 years and 4 days, from 26 January 1958 to 30 January 2007. The reactor block sat on around 3,000 tonnes of mass concrete in its foundations and contained 100 tonnes of shot concrete in the biological shield.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

The reactor hall at HIFAR drops away from the overhead crane gantry down through multiple levels. Yellow handling cranes arc over the circular top plate at centre. Steel railings, catwalks, and access platforms ring the reactor vessel. Below, the grey concrete floor is crowded with auxiliary equipment, fuel element storage ports, and heavy shielding components. The light is flat, industrial, fluorescent. Everything is metal, concrete, cold.

Brett Patman

The series

ANSTO HIFAR

2022 · 49 photographs

At 11:15 pm on Sunday 26 January 1958, Australia Day, the High Flux Australian Reactor went critical for the first time with 11 of 25 fuel elements loaded. The men in the control room had come from Oak Ridge, Chalk River and Harwell. HIFAR was Australia's first nuclear reactor.

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.