Fire Protection in NPP: Challenges Posed by Fires to the Structures, Systems and Components of Nuclear Power Plants

This Report summarizes the results of the studies performed by the JRC/IE in 2007 on Task 2 of the SONIS research program which is devoted to the Safety of Nuclear Installations. The aim of this task is to identify the fire related parameters associated to the design basis scenarios for accidental and malevolent events, and to identify the Systems, Structures and Components where the vulnerabilities are important for the overall safety evaluation of the plants. This report collects information on standard qualification tests and on experimental fire resistance tests for cables and electrical cabinets. This report prepares the next step of the SONIS program which will consist in estimating (together with the main key players in the ¿fire¿ community from Europe, the OECD countries, The Russian Federation and the Ukraine): ¿ to which extent national norms are consistent nd covering all safety aspects ¿ if certain experimental programs are mature enough to allow qualification test definition for those components which still have none This work will be followed in 2008.JRC.F.5-Nuclear operation safet

Euratom Contribution to the Generation IV International Forum Systems in the period 2005-2014 and future outlook

The "Generation IV International Forum" (GIF) is a nuclear-related research and development international programme launched in 2001. GIF is organized into, six reactor system arrangements (SA) and within each system arrangement, specific project arrangements (PA) exist. The six reactor systems are: Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR); Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR); Very High-Temperature Reactor (VHTR); Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR); Supercritical Water-Cooled Reactor (SCWR); Molten Salt Reactor (MSR). In addition, three cross-cutting methodology working groups (MWG) were created on Economic Modelling (EMWG), Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection (PRPPWG), and on Risk and Safety (RSWG). On the basis of an EU Commission Decision, Euratom adhered to GIF by signing in July 2003 the "Charter of the Generation IV Forum". Euratom then acceded to the International "Framework Agreement" among the Members of the Generation IV International Forum. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission is the Implementing Agent for Euratom within GIF. France is participating as an individual full member within GIF and only brief information will be given to complement any specific GIF reporting provided by France. Euratom has been contributing to all six systems to allow all Member States (MS) to allow any contribution and sharing of research results in specific systems of their choice as EU Member States (MS) are responsible of their own national energy mix strategy by including nuclear (or not) within their energy mix.JRC.A.7-Euratom Coordinatio

Application of Advanced Safety Methods - Conclusions of the IAEA OECD JRC joint Technical Meeting

This publication presents the main results of the Technical Meeting on Application of Advanced Safety Methods (for licensing of Nuclear Power Plants) held on 7-11 June 2010 in Bled, Slovenia. It was organized with the cooperation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development - Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA). This meeting is part of a series organized by the three organizations and has the objective to provide a forum to exchange information regarding activity in the use of Advanced Safety Methods more specifically focussing on deterministic Best Estimate plus Uncertainty (BEPU) methods both in the domains of research and relative to licensing and on Probabilistic Safety Analysis. The use of BEPU methods is possible today due to the increased knowledge in Thermal-hydraulic phenomena and high performance computational tools and allows a much clearer understanding of the available safety margin during Design Base Accidents. The results shows that the industry is in fact moving in this direction in order to be able to demonstrate compliance to safety limits after power uprates as the older conservative methods were shown to be too pessimistic. The use of probabilistic and deterministic methods is today starting to be used for defence in depth concept and also more often in combination with Deterministic Safety Analysis.JRC.DDG.F.5-Safety of present nuclear reactor

Infrastructure and international cooperation in research and knowledge transfer: supporting access to key infrastructures and pan-European research − lessons learned

Access to research infrastructures has been supported by the European Commission under different financial schemes. During the 6th EURATOM Framework Programme the instrument introduced by the European Commission were the Integrated Infrastructure Initiatives (I-3). Moreover, funding schemes to support Education and Training for students and professional developments were defined also. The main difference between these two funding schemes is that I-3 are topic-driven projects with access to infrastructure components, while the Education and Training related projects have a mobility component that is applied for the different research topics. The outcome of projects as TALISMAN (I-3), EFNUDAT/NUDAME (I-3), GENTLE (mobility), ENEN-plus (mobility), NUGENIA-plus (mobility within TA of NUGENIA) and ESNII-plus (I-3 similar) will be shortly presented as well as the future European Commission plans in the field of access to research infrastructure

Carriers of ADAMTS13 Rare Variants Are at High Risk of Life-Threatening COVID-19

Thrombosis of small and large vessels is reported as a key player in COVID-19 severity. However, host genetic determinants of this susceptibility are still unclear. Congenital Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura is a severe autosomal recessive disorder characterized by uncleaved ultra-large vWF and thrombotic microangiopathy, frequently triggered by infections. Carriers are reported to be asymptomatic. Exome analysis of about 3000 SARS-CoV-2 infected subjects of different severities, belonging to the GEN-COVID cohort, revealed the specific role of vWF cleaving enzyme ADAMTS13 (A disintegrin-like and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type 1 motif, 13). We report here that ultra-rare variants in a heterozygous state lead to a rare form of COVID-19 characterized by hyper-inflammation signs, which segregates in families as an autosomal dominant disorder conditioned by SARS-CoV-2 infection, sex, and age. This has clinical relevance due to the availability of drugs such as Caplacizumab, which inhibits vWF-platelet interaction, and Crizanlizumab, which, by inhibiting P-selectin binding to its ligands, prevents leukocyte recruitment and platelet aggregation at the site of vascular damage

The Fukushima Daiichi Accident

The Fukushima Daiichi Accident consists of a Report by the IAEA Director General and five technical volumes. It is the result of an extensive international collaborative effort involving five working groups with about 180 experts from 42 Member States with and without nuclear power programmes and several international bodies. It provides a description of the accident and its causes, evolution and consequences, based on the evaluation of data and information from a large number of sources available at the time of writing. The set contains six printed parts and five supplementary CD-ROMs. Contents: Report by the Director General; Technical Volume 1/5, Description and Context of the Accident; Technical Volume 2/5, Safety Assessment; Technical Volume 3/5, Emergency Preparedness and Response; Technical Volume 4/5, Radiological Consequences; Technical Volume 5/5, Post-accident Recovery; Annexes. The JRC contributed to volumes 1,2 and 3, which are attached.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen

Assessment of NPP Operational Events Importance for Operational Experience Feedback by Means of PSA

Lessons learned from Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operational experience have been used for many years to improve the safety of nuclear facilities throughout the world. Recent reviews of the effectiveness of Operational Experience Feedback (OEF) systems have pointed to the need for further improvement, with importance placed on tailoring the information to the needs of the regulators. At a request of a number of nuclear safety regulatory authorities in Europe, the Institute for Energy of the European Commission¿s (EC) Joint Research Centre initiated in 2007 a project on NPP OEF which provides an integrated approach to the research needed to strengthen the Community capabilities for assessment of NPP operational events and promote the development of tools and mechanisms for the improved application of the lessons learnt. Consequently, a European Expert Network on NPP OEF was established including professionals from the JRC, a number of European nuclear safety regulatory authorities, and their Technical Support organizations (TSO). The paper discusses the methods and tools which may be applied for quantitative assessment of importance of NPP operational events reported internationally for an improved use of operational experience. Special emphasis is given on Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) considerations which can enable or facilitate such a task. It debates on the benefits and drawbacks of using PSA informed arguments in a systematic way for the establishing of an event significance ranking system which could be applied globally.JRC.F.5-Safety of present nuclear reactor

Overview of Nuclear Thermal-hydraulic Activities Performed by the European Commission

The European Community has been actively involved in Nuclear Safety since its creation in 1957 as its EURATOM treaty specifically promotes research and ensures the dissemination of technical information. Thermal-Hydraulic (T-H) related projects have also been executed to enhance nuclear safety of European Union (EU) candidate countries and countries from the former Soviet Union. These have been financed in the past via the PHARE and TACIS nuclear safety programmes which are now coming to an end and are now substituted by new EU financial instruments such as IPA and INSC. All the information is being currently gathered in specific databases. The EURATOM research framework programmes have financed in the past many multipartner projects in the T-H field for both experimental and for code validation purposes which have been performed either directly by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) or indirectly by multi-partner projects. The current direct research activity in the field of T-H is mainly performed by two units of the JRC: the Safety of Present Nuclear Reactors (SPNR) and Safety of Future Nuclear Reactors (SFNR) units, both located in the JRC Institute for Energy (IE) based in the Netherlands. The main activities are performed within the European Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme in specific actions such as POS, NUSAC, CAPTURE, AMA, FANGS which involve several tasks such as: performing T-H calculations for Generation IV (GEN-IV) reactors, drafting EUR reports on specific topics, delivering training, performing dissemination of results, hosting and co-sponsoring conferences, seminars, etc. In the past, the JRC located in Ispra, Italy has performed extensive experimental research on the T-H facilities, now dismantled. Today most of the experiments data can be found in a database. This paper presents an overview of all the activities in the field of T-H performed in the European Union and its future trends.JRC.DG.F.5-Safety of present nuclear reactor

Assessment of Natural Circulation Interruption during Asymmetric Cooldown Transients

This paper presents assessment results for the Natural Circulation Interruption (NCI) phenomenon during the cooldown phase in a nuclear Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). This phenomenon could take place due to several circumstances such as an asymmetric cooldown after the loss of the forced primary flow. Under NCI conditions, the connection of the Reactor Coolant System (RCS) to the Residual Heat Removal System (RHRS) and the homogeneous boration of the RCS could be hindered. Moreover, at very low or no primary flow rates and an operating Safety Injection (SI) system, a Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) could occur in the reactor vessel due to cold fluid stratification in the loops. It is therefore important to understand the cause of loop flow stagnation and what could be the appropriate operator actions in order to avoid such phenomenon. The main goal of the current study is to assess the effect of a cooldown strategy upon the single-phase NCI occurrence. For this purpose, two scenarios with asymmetric cooling between the reactor cooling loops were investigated: the first one concerns a Feed Water Line Break (FWLB) combined with a Loss Of Offsite Power (LOOP), while the second one is limited to the LOOP (or any other transient leading to the loss of the forced primary flow). The analyses were carried out using the CATHARE 2/V2.5_1mod8.1 thermal-hydraulic system code. The calculation results emphasize, mainly, the effect of the cooldown rate and the opening strategy of the main steam Atmospheric Discharge Valve (ADV) upon the occurrence of the NCI phenomenon.JRC.F.5-Safety of present nuclear reactor

JRC in Euratom Research and Training Programme − 2014–2020

The Euratom Research and Training Programme 2014–2018 and its extension 2019–2020 (the Euratom Programme) is implemented through direct actions in fission − i.e. research performed by the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), and through indirect actions in fission– i.e. via competitive calls for proposals, and in fusion − i.e. through a comprehensive named-beneficiary co-fund action managed by the Commission's Directorate-General for Research & Innovation (RTD). The general objective of the Programme is “to pursue nuclear research and training activities with an emphasis on the continuous improvement of nuclear safety, security and radiation protection, in particular to potentially contribute to the long-term decarbonisation of the energy system in a safe, efficient and secure way.” The Programme is an integral part of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The direct actions implemented by the JRC constitute an important part of the Euratom Programme and pursue specific objectives covering: nuclear safety, radioactive waste management, decommissioning, emergency preparedness; nuclear security, safeguards and non-proliferation; standardisation; knowledge management; education and training; and support to the policy of the Union on these fields. The JRC multi-annual work programme for nuclear activities fully reflects the aforementioned objectives. It is structured in about 20 projects, and allocates 48% of its resources to nuclear safety, waste management, decommissioning and emergency preparedness, 33% to nuclear security, safeguards and non-proliferation, 12% to reference standards, nuclear science and non-energy applications and 7% to education, training and knowledge management. To ensure that direct actions are in line with and complement the research and training needs of Member States, JRC is continuously interacting with the main research and scientific institutions in the EU, and actively participating in several technological platforms and associations. JRC also participates as part of the consortia in indirect actions, which allows JRC scientist to engage in top level scientific research, and yields maintaining and further developing JRC's scientific excellence. At the same time, the members of the consortia can have access to unique research infrastructure. The participation of JRC in indirect actions can be improved by exploiting synergies inside the Euratom Programme, and also with the future Horizon Europe Framework Programme. In preparation of the next Euratom Programme 2021–2025, two pilot projects on knowledge management and on open access to JRC research infrastructure will explore and test this improved involvement of JRC in indirect actions. The paper highlights some of the achievements of recent JRC direct actions with a focus on the interaction with EU MS research organisations, as well as some of the most important elements of the Commission Proposal for the next (2021–2025) Euratom Programme, with a focus on the new positioning of the JRC as regards its participation in indirect actions