A Need for the European Market

The PALLAS reactor will replace the High Flux Reactor (HFR), in Petten, The Netherlands. The HFR is owned by the European Commission and is operated by the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG). It became operational in 1956 and will be shut down as soon as the PALLAS reactor becomes fully operational. The PALLAS reactor will be built in Petten, a town 60 km northeast from Amsterdam near the coast of the North Sea, landscape of which is characterized by sand dunes and tulip fields.

Currently, the HFR provides 70% of the radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine by European hospitals, being one of the largest radioisotopes producers worldwide. Thus, the PALLAS reactor, with a 40-year lifetime expectancy, shall need to cope with vital supplies for the twenty-first century medical practices in Europe and the rest of the world, as soon as it becomes operational.