The Foundation Preparation Pallas-reactor (PALLAS) will receive an additional loan of 45 million euros to be able to continue the project this year. The Dutch government will take a final decision on the arrival of the new reactor. This was announced today by minister Van Ark for Medical Care and Sport.
Bertholt Leeftink (CEO NRG/PALLAS): “We are very pleased with this positive decision by the Cabinet. It underlines that security of supply of medical isotopes is – literally – of vital importance. With this loan, PALLAS will be able to take the right steps and measures this year, together with ICHOS and NRG, so that by the end of this year the government can make careful decisions based on a business case that has a positive return, both socially and financially.”
ICHOS and PALLAS are designing an innovative reactor that will produce diagnostic and therapeutic isotopes for millions of patients worldwide over the next sixty years. PALLAS and NRG want to continue and further expand the role of the Netherlands as the global market leader in the field of radiopharmaceuticals and – by extension – secure high-quality employment at the Energy and Health Campus in Noord-Holland. The construction of a reactor for the medical world is unique. It has been 60 years since the High Flux Reactor was built in the Netherlands and the PALLAS project is the most advanced initiative in Europe. The project has unique challenges that continuously require intelligent solutions from the people who work on this on a daily basis.
You can find the letter (in Dutch) here.