In our Trends Talk, Hamid Aït Abderrahim, Managing Director of Myrrha, talks about this extraordinary research project. It could bring about medical revolutions, to treat cancer, and energy revolutions, to reuse nuclear waste. Belgium must regain its pioneering role.
Hamid Aït Abderrahim, general manager of Myrrha, is the guest of our Trends Talk, which is playing on repeat this weekend on Canal Z. This pioneer of nuclear research likes to draw inspiration from space adventurersNiels Armstrong or Tintin on the Moon, when he talks about this extraordinary research project.
“The Myrrha project is a new nuclear reactor concept subcritical, that is to say it does not contain enough fissile material to self-sustain the chain reaction. The main reason for this choice is because we want to use as nuclear fuel something which will contain nuclei heavier than uranium or plutonium.”
A revolution? “I would say it’s a new approach, which we thought about a long time ago,” he says. Among its advantages, in the long term, the possibility of reusing a large part of nuclear waste.
“Creating cancer”
This approach could lead to very concrete revolutions in nuclear medicine, in particular. “Our BR2 reactor, in Belgium, produces 25% of the world’s radioisotopes,” explains Hamid Aït Abderrahim. This is used to make diagnoses. We need to go one level further and create radioisotopes that can cure cancer.”
The horizon is not far away, he specifies, this could happen in the next decade, or even before that. “When we see the number of cancers, any new therapy is welcomehe insists. There will soon be spectacular progress.”
The return of nuclear power
In terms of energy, the Myrrha project would make it possible to work on a form of SMR designed by Belgiumwith an international consortium. “The size of our reactor is that of an SMR,” underlines the general director of Myrrha. If we were to produce electricity, it would provide around 40MW. But today it’s looking for a search machine.”
“This reactor serves as a test base for all new nuclear reactor technologies”he continues. The federal government of Alexander De Croo has also asked for his advice to imagine the SMRs of the future.
The future federal government of Bart De Wever should revive the nuclear sector. Italian and Canadian companies have recently come to our country to explore the market. “If Italian and Canadian players come to Belgium to be interested in nuclear power, this means that our country is attractive“, he rejoices.
But he adds and insists: “We are one of the countries in Western Europe which has a very long nuclear history. We have been pioneers in many areas. This story of continued success has been possible because there has been political stability supporting this energy. Large investments take time, to succeed you need this stability.”
An exciting Trends Talk, not to be missed, to discuss a Belgian ambition.
