Irradiation tests on a mixture of lithium and thorium fluoride salts are under way at the High Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands. The results will yield new data on the safe operation of molten salt reactors.

The Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group announced yesterday it has successfully demonstrated the capability to measure material expansion during irradiation with micrometer accuracy at temperatures above 750°C. The technology – developed at the High Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands - will help in the development of improved reactor materials and nuclear fuels.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Integrated Nuclear Safety Assessment of Research Reactors (INSARR) mission has concluded that NRG of the Netherlands has promoted and further developed a strong safety culture based on a mature management system at its Petten research reactor.

As the first of three Chinese-supplied electrical transformers is installed at the Iter fusion project in France, researchers in the Netherlands are testing the resistance to neutron radiation of materials that will shield the fusion reactor's core.

Urenco has today reported a net loss of €8.5 million ($9.6 million) as a result of adverse exchange rate movements and significant weakening of pound sterling in its financial results for the half year ending 30 June 2016. The net loss compares with a net gain in the same period of 2015 of €166 million.

A new graphite irradiation research program has been launched in support of ageing management of Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGRs) in the UK. Last week, EDF Energy announced new scheduled closure dates for four of its UK AGR nuclear power plants.

Belgium's Tractebel Engineering has signed a contract to be owner's engineer for the planned Pallas research reactor to be built at Petten in the Netherlands. The facility will replace the existing High Flux Reactor that has been in operation since 1961 and take over its role as a major supplier of the world's medical radioisotopes.

Qualification irradiation tests of fuel elements for the demonstration HTR-PM high-temperature gas-cooled reactor plant being built at Shidaowan, China, have been completed in the Netherlands.

The used fuel covered by a contract Areva signed last month with Dutch utility EPZ to supply three "next-generation" TN 17 MAX casks contains 96% of valuable energy materials that can be recycled through treatment-recycling operations, Areva spokesperson Caroline Sagne told World Nuclear News today.

Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has signed a contract with a South Korean consortium to upgrade its research reactor.

The Dutch government will provide a loan so that necessary upgrades can be made to enable the aging Petten research reactor to operate for a further ten years, by which time its replacement should have started up.

The last used fuel from the Low Flux Reactor (LFR) at Petten has been transported to the Netherlands' central radioactive waste storage facility. Decommissioning of the research reactor is underway.