Minister Kuipers visits High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten

Nuclear medicine is indispensable in the fight against cancer

Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Ernst Kuipers visited the Energy & Health Campus in Petten on 30 March. The minister spoke with medical experts and the management of NRG | PALLAS about the importance of medical isotope production, research and about the PALLAS-project. Special attention was paid to the development of new therapeutic isotopes and the collaboration with university medical centers.

The minister was informed about the new treatment methods being developed in the field of nuclear medicine and the progress of the preparations for the realization of the new PALLAS-reactor. The minister subsequently visited the High Flux Reactor (HFR).

Prof. dr. dr. Andor Glaudemans, chairman of the Dutch Association for Nuclear Medicine, was also present at the minister’s working visit and underlined the importance of nuclear medicines for patients:

“For the development and production of both diagnostic and therapeutic medical isotopes, we are largely dependent on a nuclear reactor,” says Glaudemans.

Security of supply of medical isotopes in the future

Every day 30,000 patients depend on medical isotopes from the Netherlands. In order to guarantee security of supply in the future, preparations for the construction of the PALLAS-reactor are now underway.