Top Plate View

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/7.1 · 0.8s · ISO 64
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Complex controls and heavy shielding define the top plate of the ANSTO HIFAR reactor. This facility, Australia’s first nuclear reactor, operated from 1958 until its decommissioning in 2007.

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 View
Series: ANSTO HIFAR
Catalogue: AHF-035
Process: Giclée
Captured: 7 October 2022
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter: 0.8s 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

The top plate of the HIFAR reactor at Lucas Heights, viewed across the working floor. The plate is a heavy steel-clad shielding cover for the reactor core below, fitted with access plugs at the fuel-element positions and around the periphery for the control arms and beam ports. Each access plug carries the markings of years of fuel handling. The polar crane rails run overhead.

HIFAR was Australia's first nuclear reactor, operating from 11:15 pm on 26 January 1958 to 10:25 am on 30 January 2007. The reactor was a DIDO-class design, heavy-water moderated and cooled, fuelled by enriched uranium across three fuel marks during its 49-year operational life. Reactor control was through six cadmium semaphore-style coarse control arms, one fine control rod, and two safety rods. The top plate is part of the Phase B decommissioning scope, currently projected for completion around 2030.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

The reactor top plate sits at the centre of the containment hall, a broad steel disc studded with fuel element access ports. A yellow fuel handling crane rises above it, bolted to its pivot column. White safety railings ring every level. Catwalks, cable runs, and instrument panels crowd the perimeter. The corrugated steel walls curve inward overhead. Everything carries the same flat industrial light. The air in here would smell of cold metal and concrete dust.

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.