“Today, there is no evidence that this could affect the production of medical radio-isotopes at the BR2 reactor of the Nuclear Energy Research Center (Centre d’Etude de l’Energie Nucléaire (CEN) at Mol, in the Antwerp province”. This statement came from the CEN on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, the press said the Americans had threatened to no longer supply the reactor. The Americans oppose a reinforcement of the Convention on Nuclear Security (Convention sur la sûreté nucléaire (CSN) and are trying to put pressure on Europe, De Morgen reported on Wednesday.
The Mol reactor is dependent on uranium imported from the United States to make nuclear substances for medical use. In total, it provides 4,700 direct and indirect jobs. The Mol Center is one of the biggest producers of radioactive material for medical use in hospitals in the world, the newspaper said.
In a reaction published on their internet site on Wednesday evening, the CEN said they were not directly implicated in the negotiations on the CSN, or the delivery of uranium by the United States. “The material we use for the BR2 reactor is delivered to us via a client who takes care of the irradiation themselves”, said the CEN.
The CEN also said that, as far as it knows, negotiations between the Federal Agency of Nuclear Control (Agence Fédérale de Contrôle Nucléaire (AFCN), the European Union, the United States and Russia were advancing positively. According to the Center, there is no evidence that these negotiations could affect the production of medical radio-isotopes in the BR2 reactor at Mol.
(Source: Belga)
