REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Operation of the High Flux Reactor in the year 2011
Date: 2013-07-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EAEC, Joint Research Centre, Netherlands, North Holland, nuclear reactor, nuclear safety, research programme

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 3.7.2013  
COM(2013) 489 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

Operation of the High Flux Reactor in the year 2011 

{SWD(2013) 238 final} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

Operation of the High Flux Reactor in the year 2011 

The  Council  adopted  on  25  May  2009  a  three-year  (2009-2011)  supplementary  research 
programme to be implemented by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) concerning the operation 
of the High Flux Reactor (HFR) located in Petten, The Netherlands. Article 4 of this Council 
decision  provides  that  the  Commission  will  inform  yearly  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  by  producing  a  report  on  the  implementation  of  the  supplementary  research 
programme.  This  2011  HFR  activity  report  is  the  third  and  last  of  three  yearly  reports  that 
have covered the whole supplementary research programme. 

In operation since 1961, and following a new vessel replacement in 1984 and large repair in 
2010 on the Bottom Plug Liners (BPL), the reactor provides a variety of irradiation location 
possibilities (reactor core, reflector region and in the poolside). 

The main objectives of the supplementary research programme are the following: 

(1) 

(2) 

To  ensure  the  safe  and  reliable  operation  of  the  HFR  in  order  to  guarantee  the 
availability of the neutron flux for experimental purposes.  

To  allow  an  efficient  use  of  the  HFR  by  research  institutes  in  a  broad  range  of 
disciplines:  improvement  of  the  safety  of  fuels  and  materials  for  nuclear  reactors  of 
relevance for Europe, health including the development of medical isotopes to answer 
questions of medical research, nuclear fusion, fundamental research and training and 
waste management. 

The HFR acts as a training facility for doctoral and post-doctoral fellows, allowing  them to 
perform research activities through national or European Programmes. 

The reactor is also used for the commercial production of radio-isotopes. 

The safe operation and research objectives were fulfilled as follows in 2011: 

1. Safe Operation of the HFR 

The European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) is the owner of the plant (for a lease of 
99 years) and the JRC the plant and budget manager. The HFR reactor is operated by NRG 
(Nuclear  Research  and  consultancy  Group)  which  operates  and  maintains  the  plant  and 
manages the commercial activities around the reactor1. It has an operating licence granted by 
the  Dutch  national  regulator  KFD  (Kernfysische  Dienst).  As  for  nuclear  power  plants,  the 
HFR  is  subject  to  legally  required  10-year  periodic  safety  reviews  which  are  performed  by 
NRG.  

1 

on 20 June 1967 the JRC and Stichting Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland, referred to as 
“ECN”, (then called Stichting Reactor Centrum Nederland, referred to as “RCN”) concluded a 
Co-operation Contract No. 054-68-1 PET N with regard to the operational management of the 
HFR at the JRC's Site. 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
                                                 
The  HFR  has  been  subject  to  an  independent  INtegrated  Safety  Assessment  for  Research 
Reactors (INSARR) review performed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 
April  2011.  The  INSARR  review  concluded  that  all  the  recommendations/suggestions 
deriving  from  the  safety  review  regarding  the  Bottom  Plug  Liner  repair  in  2010  and  about 
50% of those deriving from the INSARR 2005 have been addressed. The implementation of 
all the corrective actions will be completed in 2012. 

Following  the  nuclear  disaster  in  Fukushima,  Japan,  in  March  2011,  the  HFR  and  the  other 
nuclear facilities on the Petten nuclear site were subject to stress tests.  

The  results  showed  that  the  nuclear  installations  met  all  of  the  safety-relevant  licensing 
requirements and could also withstand a wide range of extreme weather conditions, including 
flooding  and  earthquakes  or  a  combination  of  both.  The  stress  test  also  showed  that  it  is 
feasible to increase the robustness of the nuclear facilities and their safety margins by taking a 
number  of  extra  measures  for  example  in  the  domain  of  :  extra  mobile  equipment, 
reinforcement of structures, development of new procedures etc. These measures are currently 
under implementation.  

In  2011  the  HFR  was  operational  for  290  days.  This  performance  corresponds  to  an  actual 
availability  of  99.22  %  with  reference  to  the  original  scheduled  operation  plan.  Nominal 
power  was  45  MW  with  a  total  energy  production  of  approximately  13,008  MWd, 
corresponding to a fuel consumption of about 16.24 kg U-235. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  2011,  the  last  18  High  Enriched  Uranium  (HEU)  spent  fuel  elements 
were shipped in a CASTOR MTR2 container to the storage facility (HABOG) of the Dutch 
Central Organisation for Radioactive Waste (COVRA). 

The maintenance activities consisted of the preventive, corrective and regular maintenance of 
all  systems,  structures  and  components  executed  with  the  objective  to  enable  the  safe  and 
reliable operation of the HFR. The periodic license required a leak test (0.5 bars overpressure 
-  48  hours  duration)  and  several  modifications  were  performed  (LOCA  4,  5  and  6).  All 
modifications  were  implemented  after  the  revision  of  the  plant  description  and  operating 
instructions  and  following  the  successful  commissioning  and  testing  and  licensing  approval 
where necessary. 

No incident on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) was reported.  

2. Research and isotope production 

2.1 Research 

The following ongoing scientific activities were performed in 2011: 

• 

• 

• 

Managing  NeT,  the  European  Network  on  Neutron  Techniques  Standardisation  for 
Structural Integrity. The main experimental activities in 2011 were relative to small 
angle scattering studies of materials ageing processes; 

Neutron diffraction investigations in nickel based alloys; 

Fuel irradiation experiments to reduce the radiotoxicity of  nuclear waste relative to 
minor  actinide  transmutation  technological  issues  (i.e.  fission-products  retention 
capabilities, dust-free process, helium swelling); 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
• 

• 

Experiments  to  investigate  reactor  structural  material  degradation  under  irradiation 
(graphites, model steels, realistic welds and high-nickel welds); 

Fusion reactor technology concerning the irradiation and post irradiation examination 
of material foreseen in the shielding blanket in ITER (CuCrZr). 

2.2 Isotope Production 

After  three  disrupted  operational  years  for  isotope  production  in  the  HFR,  2011  was  a  year 
with  a  normal  operational  pattern  as  experienced  in  the  years  before  2008.  Once  again,  the 
HFR was able to demonstrate that it plays an essential role as the largest producer of medical 
isotopes in Europe and one of the largest producers in the world. The total volume and value 
of the isotopes and associated services supplied from the HFR grew again in 2011. 

The production of Neutron Transmutation Doped (NTD) silicon for the specialist electronics 
industry was resumed after the final repair of the HFR in September 2010. During 2011, NRG 
returned to using a standard configuration of the HFR production facilities and reintroduced 
the  irradiation  of  silicon  ingots  to  produce  high  quality  products  used  in  high  voltage  and 
other specialist electronic applications that can only be served with NTD silicon. 

In  2011  NRG  continued  to  work  closely  with  other  players  in  the  Medical  Isotope  supply 
network, as well as with the Medical Community, Governments, the European Commission, 
the  OECD/NEA  and  the  IAEA.  These  actions  were  to  continue  to  support  the  coordinated 
efforts necessary to minimise the future risks to security of supply of critical medical isotopes. 

3. Financial contributions for the execution of the programme. 

In  2011,  the  following  financial  contributions  were  received  from  Member  States  for  the 
execution  of  the  programme:  Belgium:  400,000  €,  France:  300,000  €,  The  Netherlands: 
8,223,000 €. 

It  should  be  noted  that  these  contributions  cover  the  expenses  according  to  Annex  II  of 
Council Decision 2009/410/Euratom. These amounts have been calculated in order to balance 
the forecasted costs of the reactor for the period 2011 taking into account an expected level of 
commercial income. In no case does the Commission cover any operational deficit, including 
potential costs for maintenance or repair. 

The  Commission  received  in  2011  from  the  supplementary  programme  800,000  €  as 
provisions for the Decommissioning fund. This amount, together with other expenditures (e.g. 
direct personnel, utilities, spent fuel management) incurred by the Commission was paid from 
the supplementary programme budget for a total of 5,597,000 €. 

An accompanying Staff Working Paper presents in more detail all the results of the operation 
of the HFR in 2011. 

EN 

4 

   EN