The invention of new materials and new material treatment processes is accompanied with the development of energy sectors, in particular, nuclear energy. However, sometimes materials and alloys that are proven to work well almost a century ago find a ‘second breath’ in latter-day projects and state-of-the-art nuclear installations. The article is dedicated to the well-known САВ-1 aluminium alloy that is widely used in nuclear research facilities. After the intensive construction of research facilities in the USSR in the 1950$^{\textrm{s}}$–1970$^{\textrm{s}}$, the use of the САВ-1 alloy was limited to the fabrication of fuel elements for research reactors of the former USSR and Eastern Bloc countries. Nevertheless, in the early 2000$^{\textrm{s}}$, the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT) came up with the idea of using the existing electron accelerator in a state-of-the-art nuclear research facility such as a subcritical assembly driven by a linear electron accelerator. The САВ-1 aluminium alloy is the main structural material of core elements in the nuclear subcritical facility (NSF). In particular, the tank casing and bottom, support plate, casing of the neutron-generating target, parts of the reloading machine, top and end pieces of the core elements, and lining of the cooling pools for spent fuel assemblies and targets are made of the aluminium alloy. The NSF core is composed of ВВР-М2 fuel assemblies, also make of the aluminium alloy as the main structural material. The NSF operational parameters fit well to the use of the САВ-1 alloy as a structural material. The operating temperature of the NSF components made of САВ-1 alloy is quite low and thus prevents their embrittlement in operation. The high lifetime characteristics of САВ-1 in operation under irradiation, typical of nuclear research facilities, are confirmed by many years of experience in the use in ВВР-М reactors.