Decommissioning Research Reactor BER II

Research at the Neutron Source BER II

The end of an era

After 40 years of successful neutron research in Berlin-Wannsee, the research reactor BER II was finally shut down at the end of 2019. The shutdown was decided by the HZB Supervisory Board in summer 2013.

In Europe, there are now several neutron sources that offer a higher neutron flux than BER II. Furthermore, the European neutron spallation source (ESS) is currently being built in Sweden, where researchers will one day be able to use even more intensive neutron radiation for their experiments – and where the neutrons will be produced entirely without nuclear fission.