Characteristics

PALLAS will be important for the pharmaceutical and nuclear industry. Most important in that matter are technical reliability and economic operating management. The smart application and configuration of proven techniques is therefore crucial.

The most important characteristic of PALLAS will be its operational flexibility. On one hand the reactor will anticipate the changing demand for research and development. On the other hand the flexibility of the reactor will make pssible the immediate response to the fluctuating demand for isotopes.

Peak demands for isotopes or specific irradiations must responded to as they arise efficiently and reliably. Research & development must not interfere with the production of medical isotopes, and vice versa. PALLAS will meet these requirements.

Medical isotopes are highly perishable, they begin losing their specific functionionality by natural decay as soon as they are produced. The time with which they lose their specific properties varies from a few hours to several days. This means that they must be used very quickly after production. The world’s production capacity for isotopes is extremely limited. In the event of unexpected maintenance or production interruptions of one reactor it is essential that the remaining reactors can very rapidly cover each others production of medical isotopes.

Despite the need to immediately respond to the fluctuating pharmaceutical demand, long-term research programmes have to be carried out. For research on materials and the development of nuclear materials and fuels it is sometimes necessary to irradiate materials for weeks, months or years in the reactor.

Short-term and long-term irradiations must therefore take place alongside each other. This makes special demands of the reactor core and the technical systems in the reactor.