The Belgian BR2 reactor typically operates at 50-80 MW with a peak thermal flux of about 0.8-1.1 x 1015 n/cm2-s. The fuel consists of curved plates that are swaged together at stiffener joints to form six concentric tubes. The fuel meat is 93 percent enriched uranium containing integrated boron and samarium burnable poisons.

The reactor is planned to be converted using a 19.75 percent enriched UMo dispersion LEU fuel. However, integrating a burnable poison into these fuel plates will be difficult owing to the high-volume fraction of UMo in the dispersion. Consequently, the reactor operator plans to install cad­mium wires in the swage joints between the curved fuel plates to control reactivity, a technique that has been used successfully in some other conver­sions to silicide fuel.