REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Operation of the High Flux Reactor in the period 2012-2013
Date: 2016-04-05
Institutions: European Commission, Joint Research Centre
Subjects: EU research policy, Netherlands, North Holland, nuclear reactor, nuclear research, nuclear safety, nuclear technology, research programme

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   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 5.4.2016  COM(2016) 170 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Operation of the High Flux Reactor in the period 2012-2013 {SWD(2016) 101 final}  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

Operation of the High Flux Reactor in the period 2012-13 

On  13  November  2012,  the  Council  adopted  a  four-year  (2012-15)  supplementary  research 
programme for the HFR (Council Decision 2012/709/Euratom)1 — ), to be implemented by 
the Joint Research Centre (JRC) on the operation of the High Flux Reactor (HFR) located in 
Petten,  The  Netherlands.  Under  Article  4  of  this  Council  Decision,  the  Commission  must 
keep the European Parliament and the Council informed by producing a mid-term report on 
the  implementation  of  the  supplementary  research  programme.  This  report  addresses  this 
obligation, and covers the 2012-13 period. 

In  operation  since  1961,  the  HFR  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: 

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  nuclear  reactors,  health  including  the 
development of medical isotopes, nuclear fusion, fundamental research and training, 
and waste management including the possibility to study the safety issues of nuclear 
fuels for reactor systems of interest to Europe. 

The HFR is used for the commercial production of radio-isotopes and also acts as a training 
facility  for  doctoral  and  post-doctoral  fellows,  allowing  them  to  perform  research  activities 
through national or European programmes. 

1. Safe operation of the HFR 

The European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) is the owner of the HFR (for a lease of 
99  years).  The  HFR  reactor  is  operated  by  the  NRG  (Nuclear  Research  and  Consultancy 
Group)  which  operates  and  maintains  the  plant  and  manages  the  commercial  activities 
around the reactor. 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 the NRG. 

The 2012-13 period was characterised by several events that affected the availability of the 
neutron flux. 

Initially, tritium was detected in the groundwater around the reactor building (traced back to 
an underground leak in a water pipeline) as well as a leak path between the primary cooling 
water  system  and  the  bottom  plug  cooling  system  (part  of  the  pool  cooling  system).  Both 
issues  were  of  separate  origin  and  were  investigated  and  repaired  and  the  reactor  was 
restarted safely 

The NRG then faced another distinct unplanned outage of two nuclear facilities, namely the 
high  flux  reactor  (HFR)  and  the  molybdenum  production  facility.  The  NRG  put  all  its 
facilities and processes in a temporary safe standby mode to focus on global improvements 

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OJ L321 of  20.12.2012, p. 59. 

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in technology, procedures and organisation.  

By the end of 2013, improvements were being carried out and implemented. The HFR and 
the other nuclear facilities once meeting all safety requirements, were authorised by KFD to 
return back in operation in early 2014. 

In 2012, the planned cycle pattern consisted of a scheduled number of 296 operation days and 
one maintenance period of 31 days in March. The in-service inspection of the north and south 
reducer, welds of the reactor vessel and the annual leak test of the reactor containment were 
performed during this period. In reality, due to unplanned outages, the HFR was in operation 
for  253  days,  which  corresponds  to  an  actual  availability  of  85.26 %  compared  with  the 
original schedule. Its nominal power was at 45 MW, and the total energy production for 2012 
was approximately 11 313 MWd, corresponding to a fuel consumption of about 14.12 kg U-
235. 

In 2013, the planned cycle pattern consisted of a scheduled number of 166 operation days and 
a  maintenance  period  of  18  days  during  the  month  of  August.  In  reality,  due  to  unplanned 
outages  relative  to  the  aforementioned  issues,  the  HFR  was  in  operation  during  81  days, 
which  corresponds  to  an  actual  availability  of  49.07 %  compared  the  original  schedule.  Its 
nominal power was at 45 MW, and the total energy production for 2013 was approximately 
3661 MWd, corresponding to a fuel consumption of about 4.57 kg U-235. 

Maintenance  activities  consisted  of  preventive,  corrective  and  regular  maintenance  of  all 
systems, structures  and components. They were carried out with the objective of ensuring 
the  HFR’s  safe  and  reliable  operation.  The  main  activities  carried  out  during  the 
maintenance period were the following: 

(a) a major containment leak test (0.5 bars overpressure — 48 hour duration);  

(b) an in-service inspection of the north and south reducers and the welds of the reactor 
vessel;  

(c) repair maintenance of the concrete pipeline for secondary cooling water between the 
North-Holland Canal and the HFR secondary pump building; 

(d) the secondary outlet pipeline was extended further into the North Sea; 

(e) the remote monitoring system (used to monitor important reactor parameters during 
emergencies) was completed;  

(f) the alternative shutdown system (used if the normal shutdown system is not functioning) 
was completed 

2. Research and isotope production 

2.1 Research 

The following scientific activities were performed in 2012-13: 

 

 

 

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); 

fuel and graphite qualification for high-temperature reactors; 

experiments  to  investigate  the  reactor’s  structural  material  degradation  under 
irradiation (graphites, model steels, welds, etc.); 

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 

 

fusion reactor technology used in the irradiation and post-irradiation examination of 
material planned to be used in ITER’s shielding blanket; 

standardisation  of  the  neutron  diffraction  method  for  residual  stress  measurement 
(e.g. in thick bi-metallic fusion welds). 

2.2 Isotope production 

Isotope  production  was  severely  affected  due  to  the  disruption  of  the  HFR’s  operation 
between 2012 and 2013. 

The  HFR  had  a  normal  operational  production  schedule  for  isotope  production  up  to  mid-
November 2012, when the reactor was stopped. Consequently, only nine full cycles of normal 
isotope  production  were  achieved  and  1.5  cycles  of  production  were  lost.  The  2013 
production  was  also  severely  disrupted,  with  only  around  49 %  of  the  normal  operating 
schedule available. 

In  the  period  until  the HFR  stopped,  the  value  of  isotopes  and  associated  services  supplied 
was higher than in the preceding year. Furthermore, a number of new product  development 
ideas  continued  to  progress,  both  in  conventional  application  areas  and  in  some  ground-
breaking  areas  of  technology  (e.g.  neutron  transmutation  doped  silicon  for  high-voltage 
power electronics, high-speed trains, and green technologies). 

The  HFR’s  unplanned  outages  reinforced  the  need  to  support  the  coordinated  efforts 
necessary  to  minimise  the  future  risks  to  the  security  of  supply  of  critical  medical  isotopes 
identified by the OECD/NEA high-level group on the security of supply of medical isotopes. 
The NRG continued to work closely with other actors in the medical isotope supply network, 
as well as with the medical community, governments, the European Commission, AIPES and 
the  IAEA  on  important  issues  such  as  full-cost  recovery  pricing,  outage  reserved  capacity 
provision,  future  infrastructure  investment,  and  conversion  to  low  enriched  uranium  targets 
for Mo-99 production. 

3. Financial contributions to the programme’s implementation 

In 2012-13, the following financial contributions were received from Member States for the 
implementation of the supplementary programme: 

 

 

 

Belgium: EUR 300 000 (2012) + EUR 300 000 (2013) 

France: EUR 300 000 (2012) + EUR 300 000 (2013) 

The Netherlands: EUR 7 250 000 (2012) + EUR 7 250 000 (2013), 

for a total of EUR 15 700 000. These contributions cover the expenses specified under Annex 
II  of  Council  Decision  2012/709/Euratom.  The  European  Commission  does  not  cover  any 
operational deficits, including potential costs of maintenance or repair. 

Financing  for  the  decommissioning fund and other expenditure linked to  the Commission’s 
management of the supplementary research programme comes out of this amount. 

Since 2004, due to a re-evaluation of decommissioning costs, the annual contribution of the 
supplementary programme to the decommissioning fund increased from EUR 400 000/year to 
EUR  800 000/year.  This  amount  is  taken  from  (a)  the  regular  budget  of  the  supplementary 
research programme, and (b) the interest earned on the bank account of the decommissioning 
fund of the supplementary research programme. For example, in 2013 the estimated amount 
of interest generated by the decommissioning fund was EUR 145 000. Therefore, only EUR 

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655 000 was added from the regular supplementary research programme budget to reach the 
800 000 €/year. As of 31 December 2013, the total amount  in  the decommissioning fund is 
EUR 15 639 000. This fund will contribute to the future decommissioning costs of the HFR 
(to be borne by Euratom), estimated at EUR 72 600 000 in the most recent decommissioning 
study available2.  

Other expenditure incurred by the JRC during the reporting period and paid directly from the 
supplementary research programme budget includes: 

 

 

 

 

direct  staff  costs  (e.g.  supplementary  research  programme  management):  EUR 
345 000 

HFR support costs (e.g. legal advice): EUR 66 000   

utilities (e.g. electricity, water, heating): EUR 993 000 

spent fuel management costs: EUR 1 902 000 

The  accompanying  staff  working  document  presents  the  results  of  the  HFR’s  operation  in 
2012-13 in more detail. 

Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on 

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Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Management of Radioactive Waste: Management of Nuclear 
Liabilities arising out of the Activities of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) carried out under the Euratom Treaty 
— COM(2013) 734 final. 

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