INTERNATIONAL APPROACH TOWARDS CONVERGENCE OF TECHNICAL NUCLEAR AND RADIOLOGICAL SAFETY PRACTICES IN EUROPE
EUROSAFE
CO-ORDINATOR
J.B. CHERIE
IRSN – Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire
PO Box 17
F-92262Fontenay-aux-Roses
FRANCE
Tel: +33.1.46.54.73.04
Fax: +33.1.46.54.85.09
email : jean-bernard.cherie@irsn
PARTNER
Gesellschaft fuer Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS)? Germany
CONTRACT No: FIKS-CT-2002-80133
EC Contribution:EUR 129 840
Total Project Value:EUR 412 800
Starting Date:October 2002
Duration:12 months
1 Executive summary
1.1 Abstract
"EUROSAFE" is a European and global initiative aimed at promoting the convergence of technical nuclear safety practices in Europe. This international initiative provides an up-to-date review of European issues in the fields of nuclear safety, radiation protection nuclear material security and waste management, and helps to identify future priorities to make current technologies safer.
The EUROSAFE project offers the opportunity to share experiences, exchange opinions and conduct debates on key issues to the major players in these fields from the European Union, Switzerland, Eastern European countries and international organisations. This collaboration between scientific and technical organisations contributes to face the challenges in nuclear and radiological safety and to strengthen the idea of a European scientific and technical expert pool in these fields.
EUROSAFE is expressed through:
The EUROSAFE Forum, a yearly event for professionals in the fields of nuclear safety and radiation protection aiming at sharing relevant experiences, knowledge and views. Over the years, it has increasingly been establishing itself on the international scene as a major rendez-vous for the stakeholders, such as scientists, researchers, engineers, operators, managers, regulatory bodies, NGOs, opinion leaders and policy-makers, engaged in the nuclear safety debate.
The EUROSAFE Tribune, a scientific and technical publication extending and broadening the debate beyond the forum.
The EUROSAFE Website ( ), a permanent access to various information and interactive debate.
In its fourth year, the EUROSAFE forum 2002, held in Berlin on November 4 and 5, focused on discussing the convergence of nuclear safety practices in Europe. This approach aims at contributing to the implementation of the nuclear programme Key Action 2 – Nuclear fission of the EURATOM Fifth Framework Programme. For the one-year period 2002/2003, EUROSAFE was the subject of a request for financing at the European Commission (EC). A contract on accompanying measures was signed with the EC on September 30, 2002.
1.2 Introduction
A high level of nuclear safety is a priority for the countries of Europe. Regarding nuclear energy, the development of the European Union and its enlargement require closer collaboration between technical safety and radiation protection organisations, which play an important role in the development of the safety of nuclear energy systems and in the achievement of more convergence in European nuclear safety and radiation protection practices. The EUROSAFE approach includes the idea of developing a European expert pool in these fields, thus aiming at contributing to the implementation of the European Research Area (ERA), integrating European safety culture (exchange and dissemination of information), and, in particular, establishing European scientific and technical views, tools and practices with respect to key issues of nuclear safety and radiation protection to be faced by technical safety organisations (TSOs) today and in the future.
The expected achievements will support scientific and technical organisations from Western and Eastern European countries in the convergence of safety practices and their implementation. The sharing of experience, the confrontation of positions and the dissemination of results is realised by the following:
EUROSAFE Forum: The conference consists of plenary presentations, debates and seminars aiming at the discussion of the most important issues related to a strategic topic for which agreement and differences exist in the approach or in the views of the different stakeholders and at the presentation of recent work of TSOs from the European Union and Eastern European countries.
EUROSAFE Tribune: The publication includes articles on topics of major interest and relevant interviews. It is distributed to the EUROSAFE community, on demand and is also available for download from the EUROSAFE Website.
EUROSAFE Website: The Website provides permanent access to the contributions made to the Forum and the Tribune, keeping visitors up to date with matters of interest and work carried out in the field of radiation protection and nuclear safety. It also invites the visitors to make suggestions for further EUROSAFE activities.
1.3 – Work programme
Work plan
The work plan consisted of three work packages dealing with the EUROSAFE Forum, the Tribune and the Website, including:
The organisation of the EUROSAFE Forum 2002 held in Germany with 500 participants. The work consisted of preparing the programme, as well as organising and hosting the event. The Programme and Editorial Committee (PEC), composed of six European members (AVN- Belgium, CSN - Spain, GRS - Germany, HSE United Kingdom, IRSN - France, SKISweden), was in charge of the definition of the Technical Plenary Presentations and Round Table discussions. As contract partners, IRSN and GRS were responsible for the preparation of five seminars, the overall forum organisation and the promotion.
The publication of three EUROSAFE Tribune issues with distribution of 4000 copies.
The development and the management of the EUROSAFE Website hosted by IRSN and GRS.
IRSN and GRS were responsible for the implementation of the EUROSAFE approach. Together with the European Commission, they co-financed the actions for the approach in the frame of the contract.
Management
PEC ensures the overall monitoring of the EUROSAFE approach and implementation through the three actions mentioned above. The PEC members are in charge of identifying the topics to be dealt with and the potential lecturers, authors and interviewed people. They also contribute to the promotion of EUROSAFE. PEC met three times. The meetings were managed and organised by IRSN and GRS.
IRSN and GRS are responsible for the EUROSAFE approach management and for the implementation of each of the three actions. They met six times. The decisions were taken in consensus. IRSN and GRS jointly informed the other PEC members about the progress achieved in the main preparation phases of the three actions.
Innovative aspects
This kind of approach, which is unique in the European Union, was derived from the need of closer co-operation between the European scientific and technical organisations and the need to take into account the safety considerations of the relevant stakeholders with their different approaches in order to get a complete picture of the evolutions to be faced. It links the interests of scientific and technical organisations with the political aim of development and enlargement of the European Union and the societal demand for more public involvement and more transparency in the fields of nuclear safety and radiation protection.
Community added value and social objectives
The EUROSAFE approach contributes to social objectives in many aspects:
Quality of life, health and safety: The knowledge exchanged through the EUROSAFE approach plays an important part in improving our safety culture and in the understanding of the physical phenomena that occur in nuclear facilities in order to prevent accidents and consequently to protect people and environment against the potential risk of contamination and irradiation.
Education and training: The participants of the Forum as well as the subscribers of the Tribune get top information about actual developments in the nuclear field. A lot of students and young experts involved in this field are expected to attend the Forum and also receive the Tribune issues. To facilitate the know-how transfer between Western and Eastern European regulatory bodies special attention is paid to their specific needs. For students and representatives of authorities the participation of the forum is free of charge. The Web site is open to everyone.
1.4 – Main achievements
EUROSAFE Forum:
The EUROSAFE Forum 2002 was held in Berlin on November 4 and 5.
The forum has provided about 500 experts from organisations specialised in nuclear and radiological safety techniques, research institutes, safety authorities, power utilities, industry, public authorities and non-governmental organisations with the opportunity to discuss the convergence of technical safety practices in Europe. The latest work carried out by GRS, IRSN and their partners from the European Union, Switzerland and Eastern Europe was presented during an exhibition and five seminars:
Nuclear Installation Safety Assessment and Analysis: Trend towards increased benchmarking and East-West co-operation.
Nuclear Installation Safety Research: Establishing priorities in the context of reduced budgets.
Waste Management: Increasing knowledge on disposal ranging from R&D to societal issues.
Environment and Radiation Protection: Focusing on practicality.
Nuclear Material Security: Challenging new aspects.
In addition, there was a panel discussion focused on the topic “convergence of safety practices”. In this respect, several related issues were dealt with, such as:
How much convergence is necessary? Taking into account the followings facts: current technologies will be applied for the next 20 to 30 years; there is a continuing need to improve safety and identify and fill safety gaps; there will be a number of areas where the present knowledge base is consolidated and extended and there will be a trend, from an industry perspective, to reduce the safety margins.
Willingness and routes to converge: Convergence at the regulatory level, priorities and conducive methods to a convergent approach to nuclear safety.
The specific role of supranational stakeholders: Considerations of nuclear agencies such as IAEA and NEA.
A new dimension for convergence: Which safety standards shall be applicable for the 180 reactors within the enlarged EU?
Evolution of nuclear safety concepts and standards: US and German perspectives from deterministic to probabilistic risk assessment.
The Forum made it possible to deal with issues relating to convergence of safety practices in Europe, such as defining and sharing a standardised vocabulary, consolidating data bases, harmonising regulatory requirements and making more rational use of R&D budgets, facilities and experience feedback on an international scale.
VTT (Finland) has joined the PEC as a new member in June 2003 so that PEC currently consists of seven European members.
EUROSAFE Tribune:
During the contract period, three EUROSAFE Tribune publications have been issued in English.
The first issue within the frame of the contract dealt with the general topic of “Safety of reactor low-power and shutdown states” and consists of five chapters:
Probabilistic safety assessment
International feedback from experience
Radiological protection aspects
Organisational and human problems
Effect of economic constraints
The second issue focused on the review of the main topics discussed at the fourth EUROSAFE Forum held in Berlin in November 2002.
The third issue dealt with the general topic of “Decommissioning of nuclear power plant” and consists of five chapters:
Decommissioning (strategy and regulation)
Safety and organisation
Dismantling and waste management
Public acceptance and information
Funding
EUROSAFE Website:
The EUROSAFE Website ( ) is available in the three languages English, French and German.
The next EUROSAFE Forum is in preparation and announced on the EUROSAFE Website. It will be held in Paris on November 25 and 26,2003 and will deal with the general topic of the nuclear expertise and the challenge of EU enlargement.
The EUROSAFE Website is structured as follows:
“What is EUROSAFE” gives a brief overview of the EUROSAFE approach, includes the links to the nuclear organisations participating in the “Programme and Editorial Committee”, and introduces each manager of the EUROSAFE project.
“Forum 2002” gives access to the programme of the forum 2002, to the videos of the first day of the forum, to the contributions to the technical Plenary Presentations (first day) and to the contributions to the seminars (second day for the five seminars).
“Previous forums” is similar “Forum 2002”. For the forums from 1999 to 2001, programmes and contributions are available.
“EUROSAFE Tribune” makes it possible to download each EUROSAFE Tribune issued.
“Any questions” provides a platform for interactive exchange.
1.5 – Interactions with other international projects
The EUROSAFE project was carried out by taking into account the results of work in fields relating to nuclear safety, radiation protection, nuclear material security and waste management, completed within the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and on the other hand with the participation of members of these international organizations.
1.6 – Dissemination and exploitation of the results
The programmes, contributions and EUROSAFE tribunes of all EUROSAFE forums are available through the EUROSAFE Website. Also there have been articles in international technical magazines about the EUROSAFE Forum and its results.
1.7 – Conclusions
The challenges to nuclear safety are increasingly international. Changes in underlying technologies, such as instrumentation and control, the impact of electricity market deregulation, demands for improved safety, the ageing of nuclear facilities, waste management, maintaining and improving scientific and technical knowledge and the need for greater transparency – these are all issues where the value of an international approach is gaining increasing recognition. The development of the European Union and its future enlargement will also require closer collaboration between technical safety organisations and even more convergence of European nuclear safety practices. EUROSAFE aims to respond to these needs by offering a European forum, publications and a Website for information on and discussion of important nuclear safety issues.
2 – Issues of the EUROSAFE Tribune
2.1 - Tribune 2
The second issue of the Eurosafe Tribune, devoted to nuclear safety and directed at a readership composed of the different parties involved in the nuclear safety debate: scientists, researchers, engineers, operators, managers, regulatory bodies, NGOs, opinion leaders and policy makers, is focused on the safety of nuclear reactors during low-power and shutdown states. This topic has been a major issue in the field of nuclear safety over the last decade.
The results of the research on the shutdown topic are now going to be introduced in rules and guidelines like in the PSA guideline, KTA Safety Standards or in the definition of criteria for declaring a site area emergency. This leads in the short term to particular consideration of safety aspects related to shutdown operations and has in some countries already led to an in-depth investigation of low-power and shutdown states as part of the periodic safety review for operating NPPs. Other countries will introduce these investigations into the periodic safety review in the near future.
The treatment of low-power and shutdown states is also a good example of the growing convergence of nuclear safety approaches. From the beginning of the investigations, close co-operation between the experts involved has occurred either in IAEA and OECD working groups or in other international working groups like COOPRA (Co-Operative Probabilistic Risk Assessment). As a result there have been synergy effects during the investigations and a convergence of safety approaches.
2.2 - Tribune 3 – Forum 2002
This issue is mainly based on the topic selected for the Eurosafe Forum 2002, that is to say: “Convergence of technical safety practices in Europe”, set out through a panel discussion, and on the seminars of this Eurosafe Form (seminar 1-5).
Over the years, the Eurosafe Forum has increasingly been establishing itself on the international scene as an unmissable rendez vous for the stakeholders – scientists, researchers, engineers, operators, managers, regulatory bodies, NGOs, opinion leaders and policy-makers – engaged in the nuclear safety debate.
In Berlin, on 4 and 5 November 2002, a large number of participants, who mostly came from all parts of the European continent, met at this meeting to express their views on a pivotal issue for nuclear safety: the convergence of technical safety practices in Europe. The speeches, lectures and discussions were testimony to how much importance is attributed to the numerous facets of this highly complex issue. The forum thus dealt with such issues as defining and sharing a standardised vocabulary, consolidating data bases, harmonising regulatory requirements and making more rational use of R&D budgets, facilities and experience feedback on a continental scale. This was done in a way that took into account the technical, economical, social and political aspects of convergence. Reports on recent initiatives highlighted the crucial contribution of the EU and international organisations – commencing with the IAEA and the OECD’s NEA –, bilateral and multilateral co-operation programmes. In this context, the Eurosafe Forum is increasingly becoming a platform for the presentation and discussion of recent developments in nuclear safety in Europe.
With a view to providing with a balanced sample of the Berlin lectures and debates, the Eurosafe Tribune tapped this valuable source of knowledge to extract suitable approaches to policy-making in the context of EU enlargement and terrorist threats.
Panel discussion of the Eurosafe forum 2002: Convergence of safety practices in Europe:
Convergence means, inter alia, first and foremost developing an approach in which various aspects of regulation are looked at in an integrated way, on a common basis. This includes regulation programmes and performance assessment programmes like inspections. They all need to have a standardised safety basis. They need to be integrated so that they can complement one another fully at the same time as being internally self-consistent.”
How much convergence is a necessary?:
Promoting convergence in nuclear safety issues sounds self-evident. Trying to share and harmonise concepts, techniques, knowledge, skills, criteria and legal standpoints seems to be a matter of common sense. Nevertheless, such a long and time consuming process can only be justified by high stakes.