Myrrha

The MYRRHA (Multi-purpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications) is a "first of its kind" design project of a nuclear reactor coupled to a proton accelerator (a so-called Accelerator-driven system (ADS)). MYRRHA will be a lead-cooled fast reactor with two possible configurations: sub-critical or critical.

The project is managed by SCK•CEN, the Belgium center for nuclear energy research. It will be built based on the experience gained from the first successful demonstration project: GUINEVERE. In 2013, the project entered a new phase and the front-end engineering design was contracted out to a consortium led by French multinational group specializing in nuclear and renewable energy, AREVA.

MYRRHA has an international recognition and has been listed in December 2010 by the European Commission as one of 50 projects to make Europe the leader in high-tech research in the next 20 years.

MYRRHA is a research reactor aiming to demonstrate the feasibility of the ADS and the lead-cooled fast reactor concepts, with various applications from spent-fuel burning to material irradiation testing.

MYRRHA was intended to be operational in 2008.

The ADS concept consists of coupling a subcritical reactor core with a proton accelerator. The neutrons missing from the sub-critical core in order to sustain the chain reaction originate from the spallation reaction of high energy proton beam with a heavy metal target. In order to operate a subcritical core with multiplication factor of k=0.95, a particle accelerator able to provide a maximum current of 4 mA beam of 600 MeV protons is needed. The option of a LINAC is currently preferred.

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