The Argentine-Dutch consortium ICHOS will design and build the new Pallas reactor in Petten. This reactor will be used for the production of medical isotopes.
Selecting ICHOS as the executing party means the realisation of the reactor is another step closer. However, it remains to be seen whether the reactor will eventually be built. This depends on whether enough private investors can be found. According to the Pallas Reactor Preparation Foundation, "serious international private investors" have expressed their interest.
The PALLAS Reactor Preparation Foundation (PALLAS) chose the Argentine-Dutch company ICHOS, (INVAP and the TBI companies Croonwolter&dros - Mobilis) over the French consortia TechnicAtom and South Korean Kaerivoor for the design and construction of the 'state-of-the-art' PALLAS reactor. It is envisaged that from 2025, PALLAS will be one of the world's leading suppliers of medical isotopes and play a crucial role in the supply chain for radiopharmaceuticals worldwide and in nuclear technology research. These radiopharmaceuticals can be used to diagnose and treat millions of people with cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
PALLAS will replace the nearly 60-year-old High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten, 50 km north of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The contract value of the project is up to €40 million for the current preparation phase, up to several hundred million euros for subsequent phases.
On 24 January 2018, Hermen van der Lugt, CEO of PALLAS, Vicente Campenni, CEO of INVAP, Lennart Koek, managing director of Croonwolter&dros B.V. and Robert Jan Feijen, managing director of Mobilis B.V. signed the contract in The Hague. The agreement was signed in the presence of Alberto Weretilneck, governor of the province of Río Negro, Héctor Horacio Salvador, the ambassador of Argentina, Bas van den Dungen, director general of Curative Care of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, representatives of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, and Jaap Bond, deputy of the province of North Holland.
Utility and necessity
In European hospitals, seventy per cent of isotopes used for diagnostic procedures (e.g. cancer, cardiovascular diseases) and treatment come from the current reactor in Petten. Globally, the percentage is around 30 per cent and in the Netherlands it is as high as 80 per cent. To ensure the reliable long-term supply of a wide range of isotopes, the Dutch government decided in 2012 to replace the HFR. PALLAS Foundation was established on 16 December 2013, with the aim of designing and building the reactor, obtaining the necessary permits, developing a solid business case and organising private funding for the construction and commissioning phase of the PALLAS reactor.
Bas van den Dungen, director general of Curative Care at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, said: 'We are pleased that PALLAS is taking an important step by selecting the designer and builder of the PALLAS reactor. Worldwide, nearly 30,000 patients per day undergo research or treatment using medical isotopes produced at the HFR in Petten. The continuous availability of these isotopes and the guarantee that they can be delivered at any time is essential for many people, sometimes even a matter of life and death. Besides the guarantee of medical isotopes, the Netherlands can also continue to play an important role in the development of nuclear medicine research and PALLAS is of great importance for employment in the province of North Holland."
Tender procedure
In 2015, PALLAS launched the tender procedure for the design and construction of the PALLAS reactor according to EU procurement directives. Three pre-qualified consortia - led by Argentina's INVAP, France's TechnicAtom and South Korea's Kaeri respectively - progressed to the next stage of the formal tender procedure in January 2017 after a series of in-depth discussions. After several rounds of bidding and negotiations, the combination of Argentina's INVAP and Dutch TBI construction and installation companies Croonwolter&dros and Mobilis offered the best solution for a safe radioisotope production facility for nuclear medicine. INVAP has extensive experience in nuclear projects such as the OPAL reactor in Australia, although it differs in many ways from the PALLAS reactor to be built in Petten. "PALLAS will not be a copy of the Australian reactor. They had to work with the specifications we provided," van der Hermen Lugt, director of the PALLAS reactor preparation foundation, told the Noordhollands Dagblad. "PALLAS will produce more different types of isotopes. "And you also talk about other volumes. The ambition is for PALLAS to become the most important isotope reactor in the world.
The PALLAS reactor is a basin reactor, capable of harnessing neutron flux more efficiently and effectively than the current High Flux Reactor, resulting in a significantly lower thermal power. The main feature of the PALLAS reactor is its operational flexibility. The core of the reactor can be designed very flexibly for the production of different (new) medical isotopes, allowing it to respond to changing markets. Over the next two years, the design of the reactor will be further developed and optimised, resulting in a design that can be submitted to the licensing authorities for approval. At the Petten (NL) site, about 1.7 hectares will be used for the reactor, several smaller supporting facilities for cooling, electricity supply and buildings for employees and visitors.
Public-private
The financing of PALLAS consists of two phases: a public-funded phase followed by a private-funded phase. For the government-financed phase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, together with the province of North Holland, has provided a loan of €80 million. The selection of the designer and builder belongs to the first phase.
The second phase, the construction and commissioning of the PALLAS reactor, is planned to be privately financed. For this, PALLAS has developed a solid business case. In late 2017, PALLAS' business case was further developed and a start was made on approaching prospective customers. PALLAS is also in talks with potential investors and is attracting the attention of serious international private investors.
ICHOS is a consortium comprising the Argentinian company INVAP and the Dutch companies Croonwolter&Dros and Mobilis. With a turnover of €550 million and 3,000 employees, Croonwolter&Dros claims to be the largest company in the Netherlands specialising in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automation and computerisation. Mobilis is a civil construction company with a turnover of around EUR 120 million.
By: Kelly Bakker
Source: De Gooi- en Eemlander/Pallas
Photo: Image quality plan PALLAS
