Energy & Health Campus: building for the future
Hesther Bouma has been involved in the development of the Energy & Health Campus in Petten since 2016. With her background in construction management, real estate and spatial planning, campus development is a natural fit for her. It brings together area development, innovation, and connecting people and organisations. Since the end of 2023, she has been working together with the EHC team on the further development of the campus.
1. Let’s start with the bigger picture. What is the future ambition for the Energy & Health Campus, and what role does infrastructure play in it?
The ambition is to develop the Energy & Health Campus (EHC) into a place that you simply cannot overlook if you are working in nuclear technology, isotopes production or innovation in the energy transition. Especially when you consider that a world leader in nuclear knowledge and nuclear entrepreneurship is based here.
The EHC is located in the middle of an area surrounded by beautiful Natura 2000 nature. This requires us to make conscious choices about how and where the campus develops further. New business activity must genuinely add something to the nuclear value chain.
What makes this location special is everything that comes together here: nature, facilities, innovation, new developments, European policy, licensing, knowledge and people - backed by sixty years of experience. We aim to create even more exchange between research and development, business and education. A place where organisations and partners strengthen one another, extending beyond the boundaries of the campus itself.
Infrastructure plays an important role in this. The campus has facilities that a company cannot simply build or organise on its own, such as irradiation capacity, shielded laboratories and hot cells. It is precisely this combination that makes this location unique, both now and in the future.
2. Healthcare and energy may seem like two very different worlds at first glance. What makes bringing them together on one campus so valuable?
I actually don’t see them as two separate worlds at all.
There are four organisations here that each contribute, in their own way, to a healthier world. NRG PALLAS and Curium produce and process isotopes that are used worldwide for diagnostics and treatment of diseases. NRG PALLAS, TNO and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre work on innovation in the energy transition.
These organisations do not work together continuously, but there are areas where knowledge and applications come together. Nuclear technology and materials expertise are good examples. When people and organisations are located close to one another and are familiar with each other’s expertise, the threshold for collaboration becomes lower, creating opportunities for new ideas and applications to emerge.
3. The PALLAS-reactor will become a central part of the campus’s future infrastructure. How do you think the reactor will contribute to the broader development of the campus?
The High Flux Reactor (HFR) has now been operating for sixty years. It is gradually reaching the point where it can retire. PALLAS will be its successor. Its arrival is important both for securing the production of medical isotopes and for research into nuclear energy.
We are seeing nuclear energy gaining increasing attention in the Netherlands, with the sector developing rapidly. With project for new nuclear power plants taking shape, there is a growing need for nuclear knowledge and skilled professionals. This creates enormous opportunities for our campus. Through Nuclear Energy Services, NRG PALLAS has extensive expertise and is involved in preparations for new nuclear installations. For the campus, this means that alongside the medical side, the energy side can develop and grow further as well. This makes the campus attractive to new companies, research projects and educational programmes looking to establish themselves here. Because facilities, expertise and practical experience all come together here, we believe our campus in Petten can occupy a distinctive position in this development.
The new reactor also gives the location a different perspective, as it will be here for fifty years or more. That allows us to think much further ahead. What kinds of companies and expertise belong here? What is needed to improve accessibility and attract people? And what could this mean for the region?
We want the campus to become more open, with a publicly accessible area alongside the nuclear zone, where students, visitors, startups and companies can enter more easily.
4. How can the growth of the campus stimulate innovation, attract new companies and at the same time create opportunities for the region and education?
Companies do not come to Petten for a few square metres of office space. They come here because of the knowledge, facilities and experience available here that they cannot easily find elsewhere. Above all, we want to make it increasingly easy for startups, knowledge institutions and companies to make use of these opportunities.
A good example is the collaboration recently launched between Rabobank and the Energy & Health Campus as part of the Rabobank Start-en Ontwikkelbijdrage Noord-Holland Noord (in English: Start-up and Development Grant for north Noord-Holland).
What I particularly like about this initiative is that it is about more than funding. Entrepreneurs also gain access to knowledge, facilities and networks. That, to me, is what a campus should do: bring people and opportunities together so that good ideas can genuinely move forward.
This growth also creates opportunities for the region. That is why it would be valuable for education and research to become an increasingly integral part of the campus. This includes regional vocational schools, universities of applied sciences, universities and research institutions, each contributing from their own role and area of expertise. Students and researchers can work here with knowledge and facilities that are not available in many other places.
If you want to educate, attract and retain people here, more than just the work itself needs to be right. Accessibility and housing, for example, also matter. This requires cooperation with educational institutions, the municipality, the province, national government and other partners. My role often lies precisely in building those connections and making sure the right parties come together around the table.
5. What are you personally most looking forward to when you imagine the campus ten years from now?
When I look ten years ahead, I automatically find myself looking ten years back as well.
I have been involved in the development of this campus since 2016. First through the Development Agency Noord-Holland Noord, then through the Municipality of Schagen, and now on behalf of the EHC.
I have come to know this place from different perspectives and have built an extensive network along the way. That helps enormously. You can have a fantastic plan, but ultimately you also need to know who to call to make things happen. I enjoy bringing people together. Sometimes something simply starts with a phone call or a cup of coffee.
What has made these years particularly special for me are the people I have worked with. It certainly hasn’t always been easy. My closest EHC colleague was Ronald Schram, who sadly passed away. I really enjoyed working with Ronald, and we laughed a lot together. Even when things were difficult, we could still celebrate the small steps forward.
And now things really are different. PALLAS is under construction, companies are approaching the EHC rather than the other way around, and there is a clear vision. Things are moving. That gives me energy.
It would be wonderful if, ten years from now, we no longer had to explain nearly as much why this place is special. You would arrive here and simply see it and know it. I would love to walk around the campus in 2036 with someone who has just started working here and tell them what it looked like back in 2016.
And if they don’t believe me, I think we’ll have done a pretty good job.
