The SCK CEN — Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie — was established in 1952, making it one of the earliest nuclear research centres in Europe and among the most significant still operating. It sits on a large campus north of Mol, within the pine and heathland of the Kempen, and houses several research reactors including BR2, which has been in operation since 1963 and is one of the most powerful materials testing reactors in the world. The work done here spans nuclear safety, medical isotope production — isotopes made at SCK CEN are used in cancer diagnosis and treatment across Europe — and research into the long-term disposal of radioactive waste.
Visitors can engage with the centre's public outreach through exhibitions linked to NIRAS/ONDRAF, the Belgian agency responsible for nuclear waste management, which uses Mol as a base for its research into deep geological disposal. It is a sobering and genuinely interesting subject: Belgium has been researching how to safely store nuclear waste in Boom Clay formations deep underground for decades, and the science on display here is real and consequential. Mol is an unlikely place to think hard about the long-term future, but SCK CEN makes that unavoidable in the best possible way.