Review of current Severe Accident Management (SAM) approaches for Nuclear Power Plants in Europe

The Fukushima accidents highlighted that both the in-depth understanding of such sequences and the development or improvement of adequate Severe Accident Management (SAM) measures are essential in order to further increase the safety of the nuclear power plants operated in Europe. To support this effort, the CESAM (Code for European Severe Accident Management) R&D project, coordinated by GRS, started in April 2013 for 4 years in the 7th EC Framework Programme of research and development of the European Commission. It gathers 18 partners from 12 countries: IRSN, AREVA NP SAS and EDF (France), GRS, KIT, USTUTT and RUB (Germany), CIEMAT (Spain), ENEA (Italy), VUJE and IVS (Slovakia), LEI (Lithuania), NUBIKI (Hungary), INRNE (Bulgaria), JSI (Slovenia), VTT (Finland), PSI (Switzerland), BARC (India) plus the European Commission Joint Research Center (JRC). The CESAM project focuses on the improvement of the ASTEC (Accident Source Term Evaluation Code) computer code. ASTEC,, jointly developed by IRSN and GRS, is considered as the European reference code since it capitalizes knowledge from the European R&D on the domain. The project aims at its enhancement and extension for use in severe accident management (SAM) analysis of the nuclear power plants (NPP) of Generation II-III presently under operation or foreseen in near future in Europe, spent fuel pools included. In the frame of the CESAM project one of the tasks consisted in the preparation of a report providing an overview of the Severe Accident Management (SAM) approaches in European Nuclear Power Plants to serve as a basis for further ASTEC improvements. This report draws on the experience in several countries from introducing SAMGs and on substantial information that has become available within the EU “stress test”. To disseminate this information to a broader audience, the initial CESAM report has been revised to include only public available information. This work has been done with the agreement and in collaboration with all the CESAM project partners. The result of this work is presented here.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen

Management and Uncertainties of Severe Accidents (MUSA): An H2020-Euratom Project

In the current state of maturity of severe accident codes, application of BEPU (Best Estimate Plus Uncertainties) methodology in severe accident analysis, including Accident Management (AM), might provide key insights in terms of predictability and research needs. The EC project on “Management and Uncertainties of Severe Accident (MUSA)”, funded by Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, is aimed to assess the capability of severe accident codes when modeling reactor and SFP (Spent Fuel Pool) accident scenarios of Gen II and Gen III reactor designs, AM included. To do so, UQ (Uncertainty Quantification) methodologies are to be used, with a focus on Source Term (ST). The overall budget of the project is € 5,768,452.50, which means around 630 person-months

Evolutionary approaches to combat antibiotic resistance: opportunities and challenges for precision medicine

The rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial pathogens is acknowledged by the WHO as a major global health crisis. It is estimated that in 2050 annually up to 10 million people will die from infections with drug resistant pathogens if no efficient countermeasures are implemented. Evolution of pathogens lies at the core of this crisis, which enables rapid adaptation to the selective pressures imposed by antimicrobial usage in both medical treatment and agriculture, consequently promoting the spread of resistance genes or alleles in bacterial populations. Approaches developed in the field of Evolutionary Medicine attempt to exploit evolutionary insight into these adaptive processes, with the aim to improve diagnostics and the sustainability of antimicrobial therapy. Here, we review the concept of evolutionary trade-offs in the development of AMR as well as new therapeutic approaches and their impact on host-microbiome-pathogen interactions. We further discuss the possible translation of evolution-informed treatments into clinical practice, considering both the rapid cure of the individual patients and the prevention of AMR

MUSA Project status and progress in the first reporting period

Status of the MUSA project after the first reporting perio

Circuits d’éventage filtré des enceintes de confinement dans les pays de l’OCDE

Après l’accident de Fukushima Daiichi, le Comité sur la sûreté des installations nucléaires (CSIN) de l’OCDE a engagé plusieurs activités prioritaires, dont un rapport sur l’éventage filtré de l’enceinte de confinement dans les pays de l’OCDE. 15 pays ont contribué à ce rapport publié par l’Agence pour l’énergie nucléaire de l’OCDE en juin 2014. Les stress tests ont conduit de nombreux pays à envisager la mise en oeuvre de systèmes d’éventage filtré de l’enceinte, renforçant la capacité de réponse en cas d’accident grave. Le rapport du CSIN détaille les exigences de qualification pour les systèmes d’éventage et indique des pistes d’amélioration des circuits existants et pour la conception des systèmes futurs

The MUSA Project: Management and Uncertainties of Severe Accidents

MUSA was founded in HORIZON 2020 EURATOM NFRP-2018 call on “Safety assessments to improve Accident Management strategies for Generation II and III reactors”. On June 15th, 2018 obtains the NUGENIA label that recognizes the excellence of the project. The 4 years Consortium is formed by 29 Organizations (25% non-EU) with an overall cost of € 5,768,452.50 (about 630 person-months). The main objective is to assess the capability of Severe Accident (SA) codes when modeling reactor/Spent Fuel Pool accident scenarios of GEN.II and GEN.III designs. Further goals are: • Identification of Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) methodologies to be employed, with emphasis on the effect of both existing and innovative SA Management (SAM) measures on the accident progression, particularly those related to Source Term (ST) mitigation; • Determination of the state-of-the-art prediction capability of SA codes regarding ST that potentially may be released to the environment, and to the quantification of associated code’s uncertainties applied to SA sequences

First Steps of the EC-MUSA Project on Management and Uncertainty of Severe Accidents

In the current state of maturity of severe accident (SA) codes, the time has come to foster BEPU (Best Estimate Plus Uncertainties) application in the SA domain, including Accident Management (AM). The overall objective of the EC project on “Management and Uncertainties of Severe Accidents (MUSA)”, funded in Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, is to assess the capability of SA codes when modelling reactor and SFP (Spent Fuel Pool) accident scenarios of Gen II and Gen III reactor designs. To do so, UQ (Uncertainty Quantification) methodologies are to be used, with emphasis on the effect of already-set and innovative AM measures on accident unfolding, particularly those related to ST (Source Term) mitigation. Therefore, ST related FOM (Figures Of Merit) are to be used in the UQ application. This paper synthesizes the major pillars and expectations of/from the project