A study has been launched to pave the way for building a replacement research reactor at Petten in the Netherlands, the Dutch Nuclear Research and consultancy Group (NRG) has announced.

In a statement issued on 20th January 2005, NRG said it had taken an initiative together with Mallinckrodt and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (EC) to start the study.

NRG said a study conducted in 2001 into the future nuclear infrastructure in Europe – partly financed by the EC’s director-general for research, named Petten as a suitable location for a replacement reactor. A 2003 Dutch government report reached the same conclusion (see News No, 65, 7th February 2003).

The existing reactor, which started operations in 1961, is expected to operate until about 2015, although it has a longer technical working life. About 10 years is needed for a successor to be put in place. The cost of the new facility has been estimated to be around 250 million euro.

NRG told NucNet that the new study was needed to decide on what kind of reactor should be built and how the project should be financed.

The results of the study will be presented to the Dutch government, whose “full active participation will be invaluable… as with the initial start up of the reactor centre of the Netherlands in 1955”. Close cooperation between European governments, research institutes and industry “will be required to share an important part of these costs”.

NRG said the existing High Flux Reactor (HFR) plays a key role in European and international research programmes, “including solutions for the management of radioactive waste, for the safe design of nuclear and non-nuclear facilities and for the development and production of medicinal products for patients”.

The reactor is owned by the EC and NRG is responsible for the management and operation of the reactor. NRG said a project team has been established to prepare the procedures to request new licences, to gather political and public support, to take care of financial matters and to arrange construction of the reactor.

“This new modern reactor will be built according to the most stringent safety standards and therefore will be one of the safest reactors of its kind n the world,” NRG said. “By using advanced fuel technology, the new reactor will produce less radioactive waste. The new reactor will take a central position in the future European nuclear infrastructure.

Key research projects will include the fast transmutation of radioactive waste and the investigation of the safety of new nuclear energy systems; the reactor will also ensure the future development and production of medicinal products for healthcare.”

In 2004, the local council in the Dutch municipality of Zijpe – home of the HFR – called for a new reactor to eventually replace the existing one (see News in Brief No. 8, 12th July 2004). In 2003, an independent study by a Dutch government committee showed that a halt in operation of the Petten reactor of more than a month would lead to shortages of at least two medical isotopes, “affecting patients all over Europe”.

Additional Information:
For more information contact:

• NRG Communications, Juliette van der Laan-Jenniskens, tel 0224 - 56 4967, e-mail: j.vanderlaan@nrg.eu or visit our website: www.nrg-nl.com