17 Sept (NucNet): Repairs to the Petten high-flux research reactor (HFR) in the Netherlands are expected to take until at least November 2008 and the next scheduled production cycle of radioisotopes has been cancelled.
The Nuclear Research & Consultancy Group (NRG), which operates the HFR on behalf of the EU’s Joint Research Centre, said today that the HFR remains shut down, but that “good progress” has been made in establishing the cause of a gas bubble stream that had been escaping periodically into the reactor’s primary cooling system.
NRG said it had concluded that the cause of deformations and the gas bubble stream was corrosion on the concrete side of the vessel. This corrosion has affected the aluminium material of the vessel.
The HFR is a tank-in-pool type, light-water moderated and cooled reactor with forced cooling and 45 megawatt steady thermal power.
NRG said its experts have been working closely with others experts from the Netherlands and outside the country and had so far identified two possible repair options:
• Removing part of the vessel material in the area where the deformations have been observed and then repairing the vessel wall;
• Introducing a lining on the inner wall of the vessel to act as a new barrier over the affected area.
Discussions are under way with a number of potential contractors about the repair options and NRG said it expects to place orders “for the definitive design and execution of the repair” within the coming week.
However, the 2008-09 cycle for the production of isotopes, scheduled for 25 October to 23 November 2008, will be cancelled. NRG said this would have consequences for the supply of medical isotopes but that it was in “close contact” with other producers to try and coordinate production programmes and ease supply shortages.
– by John Shepherd
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
NRG Completes Conversion Of Petten Research Reactor To LEU (News No. 93, 8 May 2006)
Petten Research Reactor Helps Meet Shortage Of Radioisotope (World Nuclear Review No. 49, 7 December 2007)
Ministers Urged To Tackle Shortfall In European Nuclear Medicine Supplies (News NO. 72, 9 September 2008)
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