[3][4][5] In 2007, the company was awarded a contract by South Africa's PBMR Pty for the construction of a pilot fuel plant for the pebble bed modular reactor project.
This acquisition was completed following a period of insolvency for Nukem due to challenges related to its previous Russian ownership amid geopolitical tensions following the war in Ukraine.
Transnuklear (TN) GmbH was founded in 1966 as a subsidiary of Nukem and had been responsible for the transportation of nuclear fuel in West Germany until its operating licenses were suspended.
[7] The irregularities came to light after 21 October 1986, when an accident occurred in Kwaadmechelen with a Transnuklear transport from Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant to SCK CEN in Mol.
Nukem was aware of the illegal activities a month earlier, but waited until after the 5 April 1987 Hessian state election, which gave a narrow majority for Federal Minister for Nuclear Safety Walter Wallmann (CDU).
Together with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, this scandal led to the creation of the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz in Germany and the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) in Belgium.