NEA Monthly News Bulletin - April 2013

New at the NEA

NEA high-level visit to the United States

NEA Director-General Luis Echávarri, NEA Head of Nuclear Safety Javier Reig and Nancy Salgado were in the United States from 11 to 15 March 2013 for a series of talks and high-level meetings, including the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Regulatory Information Conference and the Policy Group meeting of the Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP), chaired for the first time by Dr. A. Macfarlane and for which the NEA acts as Technical Secretariat. In addition, Mr. Echávarri participated in a series of bilateral talks with members of the NRC, the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee (NEAC), and the US Department of State. He also presented the latest NEA activities and objectives to the American Nuclear Society (ANS).



New publications

Structural Materials for Innovative Nuclear Systems (SMINS-2)
NEA No. 6896, 444 pages.

Reversibility and Retrievability in Planning for Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste
NEA No. 6993, 236 pages.

The Evolving Role and Image of the Regulator in Radioactive Waste Management
NEA No. 7083, 28 pages.

Image et rôle de l'autorité de sûreté nucléaire dans la gestion des déchets radioactifs
NEA No. 7124, 32 pages.


Medical radioisotopes

Results from a self-assessment by the global 99Mo/99mTc supply chain

A new report presents the findings of a self-assessment by the global molybdenum-99/technetium-99m (99Mo/99mTc) supply chain, which was conducted as a direct follow-up action to the HLG-MR policy principle on the need for periodic reviews of the supply chain. The report evaluates progress made by 99Mo/99mTc producers in implementing the HLG-MR policy approach and, in particular, the principles relating to full-cost recovery, outage reserve capacity and the role of governments in the 99Mo/99mTc market. More information.


Nuclear safety

Halden Programme Group meeting

The 37th Enlarged Halden Programme Group meeting, which took place in Storefjell, Norway on 10-15 March, attracted 300 participants from all 19 countries participating in the Halden Reactor Project. Over 130 papers were presented covering all the main areas of the project, including reports on the joint and participant-sponsored programme results, as well as papers on related work performed at the participants' own facilities. More information about the Halden Reactor Project.


Radioactive waste management

Radioactive Waste Management Committee and Regulators' Forum

The 46th annual meeting of the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) and the 16th Meeting of the RWMC Regulators' Forum were held on 12-14 March in Paris. At the RWMC meeting, about 65 participants from 15 NEA member countries discussed and approved the programme of work of the RWMC and its working parties. Two topical sessions on "Radioactive Waste Classification" and "Pre-disposal Radioactive Waste Management", with contributions from the delegates as well as from other international organisations, completed the programme. The Regulators' Forum was attended by 15 delegates from 14 NEA member countries representing their regulatory authorities. The main focus was to discuss and define the programme of work for the coming years, as well as the issues of pre-disposal radioactive waste management and the role of the regulator in licensing repositories. More information.


Nuclear Science

The importance of international collaboration on nuclear data research

The International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology was held in New York on 4-8 March with the objective of bringing together scientists and engineers involved in the production and use of nuclear data for various applications. The conference, which was organised by the Brookhaven National Laboratory under NEA auspices, attracted more than 400 participants from over 50 countries who had the opportunity to attend nearly 400 presentations, several of which highlighted NEA Nuclear Science Committee and NEA Data Bank activities. Programme topics included nuclear data measurements, nuclear theories and models, data evaluation and validation, integral experiments, and uncertainty quantifications for different areas of application. More information is available at www.bnl.gov/nd2013.


Data Bank

New online Nuclear Data Services

The Data Bank nuclear data online services were upgraded to take advantage of the new web interface of the JANIS software, which facilitates access to large international bibliographical, experimental and evaluated nuclear databases. The new search functionality allows the browsing of all JANIS databases, and an enhanced display interface to facilitate a comparison of the results. More information.

NEA Data Bank newsletter

Training courses

Computer program services

New computer programs available

27-MAR-13

CCC-0768

NRCDOSE72 1.2.3, Evaluation of Routine Radioactive Effluents from Nuclear Power Plants with Windows Interface
(Arrived)

27-MAR-13

CCC-0684

NRCDOSE 2.3.20, Evaluation of Routine Radioactive Effluents from Nuclear Power Plants
(Arrived)

27-MAR-13

CCC-0785

SCALE 6.1.2, Modular system for criticality, shielding, source term, fuel depletion/decay, inventories, reactor physics
(Arrived)


An online archive of previous editions is available here.

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