Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) was established in 1948 as the Institute for Nuclear Energy (IFA). The name was changed in 1980. Its main office is at

Kjeller Kjeller is a village located near Lillestrøm in the municipality of Lillestrøm, Norway. It is located 25 kilometers north-east of Oslo. Name The Norse form of the name was probably ''Tjaldir''. This is then the plural of ''tjald'' n 'tent'. ...

, Norway, and slightly under half of the institute’s activities are based in

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a List of cities in Norway, town and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, R ...

. In Halden IFE is host to the international OECD Halden Reactor Project, with 18 member states. IFE conducts research in the following areas:

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

environmental technology Environmental technology (or envirotech) is the use of engineering and technological approaches to understand and address issues that affect the environment with the aim of fostering environmental improvement. It involves the application of scien ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

, petroleum technology, nuclear safety and reliability and man-machine systems (man-technology-organisation). In the 21st century, IFE operated the only two existing

nuclear reactors A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for commercial electricity, marine propulsion, weapons production and research. Fissile nuclei (primarily uranium-235 or plutonium-2 ...

in Norway. Both were dedicated to research. The JEEP II reactor at Kjeller was used for basic research in physics and material science, as well as production of radiopharmaceuticals. The Halden Reactor was used for research in materials technology and nuclear fuel safety. The reactor was transferred to Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning on April 1. 2025 The Institute has approximately 600 employees in Halden and at Kjeller. The President is Nils Morten Huseby.

History

During the post-war years Norway put strong efforts in the area of nuclear research. Gunnar Randers and Odd Dahl had already started the Norwegian nuclear research activities at the

Norwegian Defence Research Establishment The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (''Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt'' – ''FFI'') is a research institute that conducts research and development on behalf of the Norwegian Armed Forces and provides expert advice to political and m ...

(FFI) from 1946, and after World War II this research was separated from the military establishment, with a focus on civilian use of nuclear power. Institute for Nuclear Energy (IFA) was established in 1948 as a civilian offspring from the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment with Gunnar Randers as President until 1970. Norway’s first nuclear reactor (JEEP or later, JEEP I) went into operation at Kjeller in 1951. It went critical for the first time June 30, 1951. At this time only the great powers in the world: United States, United Kingdom, France, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Canada had managed to build and put nuclear reactors in operation. In the 1980s IFE reformed its programme profile. Public financing was reduced, and in line with contemporary neo-liberal trends in society new demands were put on industry research, market adaptation and exposing research more to commercialisation. Research areas that saw a growth in this period included petroleum research, renewable energy, control room technology and man-machine-communication. From the 1990s IFE gained a leading position in Norwegian energy- and environmental research, with focus on

hydrogen storage Several methods exist for storing hydrogen. These include mechanical approaches such as using high pressures and low temperatures, or employing chemical compounds that release H2 upon demand. While large amounts of hydrogen are produced by variou ...

in metal hydrides,

, energy systems analysis,

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

and

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

systems. In the area of petroleum technology, IFE has expertise in the areas of tracer technology, corrosion inhibition and multiphase flow assurance. In the 2000s IFE has invested in the area of solar cell research. A new solar cell laboratory at Kjeller was opened in 2009, and cost about 50 million NOK, one of the biggest investments made by the Institute.www.ife.no/ife_news
/ref> The Centre for Environmental Energy Research hosted by IFE will concentrate on the development of silicon-based solar cells.

Police report by Norway's foreign ministry

A 12 May 2013 article in

O Estado de S. Paulo ''O Estado de S. Paulo'' (; ), also known as ''Estadão'' (; ), is a daily newspaper published in State of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to Berliner (format), ...

broke the story about testing done at the Halden Reactor in regards to the nuclear submarine program of Brazil.Anmelder eieren av Halden-reaktoren
/ref> The testing did not have the proper authorization from Norway's government. On 4 September, media said that the institute "is admitting to illegal cooperation with companies in four more countries:"PST overtar atom-etterforskningen
/ref> Russia, Argentina, France and the United States. Later Norway's foreign ministry made a police report to PST.

References

{{authority control Research institutes in Norway Nuclear power in Norway

History

Police report by Norway's foreign ministry

See also

References