IAEA assesses the safety of the modernized Dutch research reactor: regulation & safety

September 20, 2021

According to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Delft Reactor Institute (RID) at the Technical University of Delft, the operator of the Hoger Onderwijs research reactor, has given priority to safety when carrying out major renovations and modernizations of the facility. Team of experts. The team also found areas where further improvement was needed, including the organizational structure and security procedures and documentation.

The HOR research reactor core in operation (Camiel Kaaijk / RID)

An IAEA Integrated Safety Assessment of Research Reactors (INSARR) mission is being carried out at the request of an IAEA member state. It is a peer review service that evaluates and evaluates the safety of research reactors based on the safety standards of the IAEA. The INSARR mission to the Hoger Onderwijs (HOR) reactor was commissioned by the Dutch regulatory authority, the Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ANVS).

The HOR – a 2 MWt pool research reactor – is mainly used for research in nuclear science and engineering, neutron activation analysis, and in the development of new radioisotopes and production methods. RID was designated as an IAEA Collaboration Center in 2010 and its stable isotope tracer methods contribute to the IAEA’s activities in forensic science.

The reactor was commissioned in 1963 and has been rebuilt several times since then. This included switching from highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium fuel in 2005 and modernizing the nuclear measurement and control systems in 2010. The reactor underwent regular national safety reviews in 1999, 2010 and 2021. The HOR was temporarily closed in 2019 for the conversion program of its systems and components, including cooling circuits and the safety dome, failed.

A seven-day INSARR mission to assess the safety of the reactor was completed on September 14th. The team consisted of four experts from Argentina, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Slovenia and three IAEA officials. The contract comprised the official supervision and the existing organizational and administrative arrangements. It also checked technical areas, including safety analyzes, operation and maintenance programs, radiation protection, and use and change safety.

The IAEA team noted the effective implementation of administrative and technical measures to ensure security despite COVID-19 restrictions during the change project. A commitment to safety was also noted in areas such as regular safety reviews and aging management.

The mission team made recommendations and suggestions for improvement, including: strengthening the organizational structure for operations by clarifying roles and responsibilities for security to avoid potential role and task conflicts; Improve the program for resuming operations after prolonged downtime by retraining reactor operating personnel and updating reactor safety documents and operating procedures to reflect recent changes; and improving aging management by addressing system and component obsolescence and using feedback from reactor operations and safety assessments.

“RID has shown a strong commitment to safety in conducting the refurbishment and modernization of its reactor systems and components,” said David Sears, senior nuclear safety officer for the IAEA Research Reactor Safety Division. “It is expected that RID will expand these efforts to ensure safety during the ongoing commissioning of these modifications and throughout the reactor recommissioning process, which is scheduled for the end of this year after an extended period of shutdown.”

“We appreciate the support of the IAEA, especially given the restrictions imposed by COVID-associated restrictions,” said Bert Wolterbeek, the HOR reactor manager and director of RID. “The INSARR mission has given us valuable recommendations and suggestions for further improvement of operational safety, safety culture and safety management and we are committed to this.”

RID intends to apply for a follow-up mission to INSARR in 2023.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News