NEA Monthly News Bulletin - April 2014

New at the NEA

New nuclear build supply chain and project management

New at the NEA feature - New nuclear build supply chain and project management
VC Summer – SCE&G

On 11 March 2014, an international workshop on the supply chain for new nuclear build and the role of project management and logistics was organised by the NEA Working Party on Nuclear Energy Economics (WPNE). Over 60 participants from national governments, academia, the private sector and international organisations attended the event. Participants discussed issues such as the current status of the global nuclear supply chain, its likely evolution in coming years and the emerging models of project management. Invited experts also gave presentations on the impact of lessons learnt and identified a number of concrete measures that could effectively reduce construction costs and lead times. In this context, four case studies were analysed in detail: the experience of Électricité de France (EDF) with the EPR at Flamanville in France and at Taishan in China; the construction of ABWRs by Hitachi in Japan; the new Westinghouse AP1000 project at VC Summer in South Carolina, United States; and the construction of Rosatom's VVER in Tianwan, China.


New publications

福島第一原子力発電所事故 OECD/NEA原子力安全の対応と教訓
要旨
NEA No. 7217, 8 pages.

Technology Roadmap Update for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems
66 pages.


Radioactive waste management

Radioactive Waste Management Committee holds annual meeting

On 26-27 March 2014, the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) held its annual meeting, bringing together nearly 70 delegates from 19 countries as well as representatives from the European Commission (EC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Participants discussed a range of issues during topical sessions on: the "implementer-regulator" dialogue; the management of radioactive waste for an extended period of time with a view to disposal; waste management after an accident; and third party liability for low-risk facilities. Discussions led to the establishment of four new groups under the RWMC mandate. The Committee also decided that the next International Conference on Geological Repositories (ICGR-5) will be held in 2016 in Paris, France, with the French radioactive waste management agency ANDRA as the host organisation.

Regulators' Forum

On 24-25 March 2014, the Regulators' Forum of the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) held its annual meeting in which nearly 30 participants from 19 countries took part. The meeting comprised two topical sessions: the first on the challenges to the independence of the safety regulator, and the second on regulating radioactive waste management after a nuclear accident. Participants decided to organise a workshop on the challenges to the regulator regarding the licensing, construction and operation of waste repositories in 2015 in Helsinki, Finland. The forum also decided to closely monitor and follow up on related activities and initiatives by other organisations such as the European Commission (EC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and to strongly support these activities as part of future collaboration.

New radioactive waste management expert groups

During discussions at its annual meeting held on 26-27 March 2014, the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) decided to establish several new groups under its mandate.  A new Expert Group on National Inventories will work towards obtaining a better understanding of the differences among national inventories and waste classification schemes in order to improve the methodology for their comparison. The Task Group on Regulator-Implementer Dialogue for Disposal Facilities will gather existing information on the subject (including from international recommendations) and prepare a document on the characteristics, experience and challenges of this dialogue. The new Pilot Group on Management of Radioactive Waste in View of Disposal will conduct a survey of current radioactive waste management in member countries and identify the main issues for managing the future interface between storage and final disposal at the technical, financial and societal levels. The RWMC also agreed to bring the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on a report on status and trends in radioactive waste management into a joint NEA-European Commission-IAEA Secretariat.

Waste management activities related to the Fukushima Daiichi accident

On 26-27 March 2014, during its annual meeting, the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) decided to establish an Expert Group on Integrated Management of Accident-oriented Radioactive Waste from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The decision was made following a proposal from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan and the International Research Institute for Decommissioning (IRID). The group will focus initially on the radiological characterisation and categorisation of waste. Its first meeting will be held in July 2014 in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, during which the group will discuss the scope of work, including the selection of target radionuclides, an inventory of estimation methodology and basic consideration of categorisation. The detailed schedule of work will also be established. The NEA Secretariat will soon start the process of contacting member countries and requesting nominations to the group.

NEA Salt Club

On 18 March 2014, the NEA Salt Club held its annual meeting, during which members discussed progress on activities related to geological repositories in rock salts. As the group will reach the end of its current mandate in May 2014, the Chair requested an extension for the period 2014-2015. Revisions to the mandate and programme of work have been prepared and once approved by the members, official endorsement will be sought from the Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSC), the parent working group overseeing the Salt Club. More information about the work of the Salt Club can be found on the following web page.


Nuclear law

South Africa participates in the NEA Nuclear Law Committee

On 25-26 March 2014, South Africa participated for the first time as an invitee to an NEA Nuclear Law Committee meeting. South African representatives gave a presentation on the country's nuclear liability regime. Among the NEA's objectives with respect to nuclear law is to help create sound national and international legal regimes for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including international trade in nuclear materials and equipment, to address issues of liability and compensation, and to serve as a centre for nuclear law information and education. The Nuclear Law Committee assists member countries in the development, strengthening and harmonisation of nuclear legislation, contributes to the modernisation of the international nuclear liability regimes, and encourages the strengthening of treaty relations between interested countries to address liability and compensation for nuclear damage.


Data Bank

Data Bank Task Force holds first meeting

On 13 March 2014, the NEA Nuclear Science Committee held the first meeting of the Data Bank Task Force, which had been established in December 2013 to review the current activities and future development of the Data Bank. The Task Force will conduct the review and associated discussions in order to identify ways to increase the benefits of Data Bank products and services to member countries and other NEA areas. The conclusions drawn from this process will form an important part of the input into the next six-year strategic plan of the Data Bank, which will start from 2017.

Release of JEFF-3.2 Neutron Data library

On 5 March 2014, the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) File Project released the JEFF-3.2 neutron library, the latest update of its incident neutron data file. JEFF-3.2 is a major update of the general purpose neutron library which has been revised and expanded to include neutron data for 472 nuclides or elements. Among the most important changes and improvements in JEFF-3.2 are: new evaluations and updates for major and minor actinides, more complete gamma production and covariance data, the adoption of updated evaluations from recent sources (TENDL-2012, ENDF/B-VII.1), and over 70 consistency and formatting errors corrected from previous versions. The JEFF nuclear data library is the only internationally evaluated nuclear data library project. JEFF-3.2 is available from the JANIS database or from the JEFF-3.2 web page where processed application libraries (ACE formats) for a selection of temperatures can also be found.

Computer program services

Training courses

New computer programs available

05-MAR-14

NEA-1883

ZZ TSL-ACE/2013, Thermal Scattering Libraries processed to ACE format
(Arrived)

05-MAR-14

NEA-1881

ZZ OSKARSHAMN 2, Oskarshamn-2 (O2) BWR Stability Benchmark
(Arrived)

04-MAR-14

CCC-0644

HOTSPOT 3.0.1, Health Physics Code System for Evaluating Accidents Involving Radioactive Materials
(Arrived)

03-MAR-14

NEA-1857

PHITS-2.64, Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System
(Arrived)

19-FEB-14

NEA-1864

GEF 2013/2.2, Code for Simulation of Nuclear Fission Process
(Arrived)


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