Nuclear research at NRG PALLAS contributes to the development of SMRs
With the growing global interest in the construction of new nuclear power plants, the demand for knowledge of nuclear technology is increasing rapidly. The Netherlands is committed to building new nuclear power plants and developing Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to ensure a reliable and climate-neutral energy supply. Achieving these nuclear ambitions a solid knowledge base—grounded in up-to-date expertise and the latest scientific insights – is essential.
Through NRG PALLAS’ PIONEER research programme, a substantial body of up-to-date nuclear knowledge is available. In the public annual report, the researchers explain how this knowledge is developed, facilitated by the budget that the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth (KGG) makes available for this purpose each year.
Read the full report in Dutch here
Below a selection of highlights from the annual report:
1. Lifetime extension of existing nuclear plants:
Research is being conducted into the extent to which the operation of existing nuclear power plants, such as the Borssele nuclear power plant, can be extended. A couple of years ago, NRG PALLAS took the initiative to establish a knowledge base together with partners from, among others, France and the United States. This objective of this knowledge base is to support assessments of whether nuclear power plants can continue to operate safely beyond 60 years of operation.
Lorenzo Stefanini: “For most Western nuclear power plants, we expect them to be able to remain in operation for well over 60 years. The main challenge lies in thoroughly demonstrating and safeguarding this.”
2. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)
The development of SMRs has gained strong momentum. In Canada, a so-called ‘first-of-a-kind’ SMR is currently under construction. With the establishment of the European Industrial Alliance on Small Modular Reactors, intensive efforts are also underway in Europe to accelerate the deployment of SMRs. A recent study by TNO and NRG PALLAS shows that SMRs can play an important role in meeting future thermal energy demand.
The arrival of SMRs is accompanied by the introduction of new manufacturing techniques in the nuclear sector, focused on factory-based production of components. NRG PALLAS supports this development through the construction of a facility for testing new materials in a reactor environment. Murthy Kolluri explains how irradiation research contributes to the qualification of materials and new manufacturing methods for SMRs.
3. Nuclear developments in maritime transport
The maritime sector is responsible for approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, there has been a strong focus on the use of nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. In the previous century, the Netherlands already explored this possibility, but the low costs of fossil-fuel propulsion at the time made that the concept did not take off. Today, the situation is different. A major player like the Dutch company Allseas aims to enable nuclear-powered shipping using gas-cooled high-temperature reactors. NRG PALLAS is assisting Allseas in realizing this project, including the development of models to study the (nuclear) safety of such reactors. This work builds on the extensive knowledge base that has been developed over the past decades in this field. Ferry Roelofs discusses developments in the maritime sector and in space exploration in the annual report.
4. Medical research
Nuclear energy research also has spin-offs into the medical field. One example is a microdosimetry model that enables precise calculations of the amount of radiation energy deposited by medical isotopes in tissue. This allows cancer treatments to be administered with greater accuracy, minimizing collateral damage to the body and improving the quality of life for cancer patients.
This research supports NRG PALLAS as a producer and developer of medical isotopes for the diagnosis and treatment of various types of cancer as well as cardiovascular diseases. It demonstrates how important and socially relevant the work of NRG PALLAS is for the more than 30,000 patients per day who rely on medical isotopes from Petten.
Tim van Dijk: “Microdosimetry is essential for new radionuclide therapies: the more we understand the effects, the closer we get to developing new treatment options.”
