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NRG Press Release – Repair of cooling water pipework High Flux Reactor will commence on 19 February 2010

Petten, 15 December 2009
NRG starts repair of the primary cooling water pipework of the High Flux Reactor on 19 February 2010. The restart of the reactor is scheduled in the second half of August 2010.

The repair of the aluminium cooling water pipework, which is set in concrete, is focussed on a number of points with known corrosion and localized deformation as well as the point where a small bubble stream was observed in 2008. The repair entails the removal of the concrete around the pipe to facilitate the installation of new material which will be welded onto the existing system. Subsequently the pipe will be covered with a corrosion resisting layer. Before recasting the pipe in concrete, the system will undergo an extensive inspection and testing procedure. Relevant authorities will be present during the evaluation of the tests. The safety and health of all employees involved in the repair are of highest priority in the repair project.

The repairing procedure has been carefully prepared over the past few months. NRG has extensively examined, tested and practiced repair techniques and radiation protection. People, materials and repair methods have, in close consultation with the relevant authorities, been qualified by external organizations. Additionally, at the request of NRG and the authorities, an evaluation of all aspects of the repair including monitoring of the implementation of the work will be performed by several independent national and international experts.

Over the past few months NRG has directed great effort towards limiting the impact of the outage of the HFR to a minimum. NRG works in close cooperation with governments, colleague isotope producers and customers to optimally secure the availability of medical isotopes for healthcare purposes and nuclear research with regard to energy supply.

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For further information please contact Juliėtte van der Laan at NRG Communications, telephone number +31 224 564967 or mobile +31 6 10148943, e-mail info@nrg.eu.

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