SCK•CEN / Facilities / Pooled Facilities / Home

SCK•CEN, Foundation of Public Utility, was created in 1952 in order to give the Belgian academic and industrial world access to the worldwide development of nuclear energy.

Since 1991, the statutory mission gives priority to research on problems of societal concern, such as: safety of nuclear installations; radiation protection; safe treatment and disposal of radioactive waste; fight against uncontrolled proliferation of fissile materials; and fight against terrorism.

To fulfill its various tasks SCK•CEN has been provided with a large number of equipment and unique facilities allowing, among others, research on actinides and actinide materials. SCK•CEN’s most important installations are the reactors BR1, BR2 and VENUS, hot laboratories and the underground research facility HADES for the study on the disposal of radioactive waste in clay layers. Furthermore, a new accelerator driven neutron source, MYRRHA, is being designed.
Within the scope of the ACTINET Network, the following facilities become accessible*.

(* The use of other experimental equipments and set-ups (BR2, HADES) for the ACTINET Joint Research Projects will also be considered on a case-by-case basis in collaboration with visiting scientists of the ACTINET community.)

Partner: SCK•CEN

Website: http://www.sckcen.be

LHMA hot cell facility

Concrete or lead shielded cells equipped with alpha tight inner glove boxes (about 30) for the post irradiation examination (PIE) of fuel rods and core components and allowing the handling of Pu (up to 4 kg fissile material) and minor actinides as present in irradiated fuel.

Solid state research tools for nuclear samples

Sample preparation facilities
High temperature controlled atmosphere furnace
X-ray diffraction
Scanning electron microscopy
Microprobe analysis

Transmission electron microscopy
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Optical microscopy
Many other facilities for making chemical tests for post irradiation examination of nuclear fuels and targets

Chemical and radiochemical analysis tools for nuclear samples

Plutonium laboratory with alpha-glove boxes and equipment including inductively coupled, thermal ionization and spark source mass spectrometry, optical emission spectrometry, ion chromatography and UV-VIS spectroscopy
Alpha, beta and gamma spectrometry
Liquid scintillation counting

Surveyed (<400 MBq of actinides) and controlled (>400 MBq of actinides) laboratories

10 alpha glove boxes, most of them with controlled atmosphere (anaerobic, inert, very low oxygen)
3 thermostated rooms, equipped for different types of migration and electromigration tests and for batch type experiments (solubility, complexation, sorption) with e.g. Pu
Tools and facilities to pretreat samples from different waste forms and to prepare doped glass samples
Analytical equipment including gel permeation chromatography (separation of NOM), luminimeter (measurement of radiolytic products), specific surface area measurement, total and inorganic carbon analyzer and electrochemical equipment

Access requirements:

Security clearance, medical checks to ensure radiation protection requirements and on-site safety training.

Frank JOPPEN

+32 (0) 14 33 25 40