Germany consolidates nuclear research activities
The nuclear expertise of Germany's Jülich Research Centre (Forschungszentrum Jülich) and the Experimental Reactor Consortium GmbH (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor, AVR) are to be combined into a new enterprise.
Under the plan, the nuclear services division of the Jülich Research Centre will be merged with AVR. The material testing and analytical laboratory divisions of Jülich will continue to be operated by the research centre.
The new enterprise will fall under the umbrella of Energiewerke Nord GmbH (EWN) and will have the German federal ministry of finance as a shareholder.
In a statement, the Jülich Research Centre said, "The aim of the new company is for Jülich to focus on nuclear power, to maintain and expand in order to contribute expertise and experience towards Germany's safe exit from nuclear energy. AVR and the research centre will provide their comprehensive core technical expertise to the new company, which is required for the expert handling of nuclear liabilities."
The new organization - which will have some 300 employees - will comprise a full range of expertise in nuclear decommissioning, dismantling and waste disposal gained at Jülich over the past five decades.
The supervisory boards of EWN, AVR and the Jülich Research Centre have approved the agreements on creating the new organization. However, before the treaties creating the new company can be signed, approval is required from the federal ministry of finance and the cabinet of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
EWN is wholly-owned by the German government and is responsible for the decommissioning of publicly-owned nuclear facilities and for managing the resulting radioactive wastes. In addition to decommissioning the Greifswald nuclear power plant and the Rheinsberg experimental reactor in eastern Germany following the country's reunification, EWN is also involved in decommissioning the AVR reactor, which is adjacent to the research centre at Jülich. AVR GmbH has operated as a subsidiary of EWN since 2003.
The AVR reactor was a prototype pebble bed reactor constructed in the 1960s to demonstrate the feasibility and viability of a gas-cooled, graphite-moderated high temperature reactor. It was shut down in 1988 after 20 years of operation.
The Jülich Research Centre comprises nine research institutes with 51 sub-institutes working in the areas of energy and climate research, bio- and geosciences, medicine and neuroscience, complex systems, simulation science and nanotechnology.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
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