CSNI/WGRISK Workshop

International Workshop on Level 2 PSA and Severe Accident Management

Cologne, Germany
29-31 March 2004

The NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) Working Group on Risk Assessment (WGRISK) will hold an international workshop on Level 2 PSA and Severe Accident Management in Cologne, Germany on 29-31 March 2004. The workshop will be hosted by Gesellschaft für Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) mbH.

The workshop is open to experts from regulatory authorities, research organisations, utility and industry representatives and observers from both OECD member countries and non-member countries. Nominations should be made through the NEA Secretariat or CSNI/WGRISK members. Those wishing to make a presentation at the workshop should submit an abstract with their preliminary registration.

Objective

To provide a forum to discuss recent developments in Level 2 PSA and Severe Accident Management. The information gathered will be used to produce an addendum to the 1997 WGRISK report, and will provide input into the joint workshop planned by WGAMA, IAGE and WGRISK on the Evaluation of Uncertainties in relation to Severe Accident and Level 2 Probabilistic Safety Analysis (to be held in the autumn of 2004).

Background

Level 2 PSA definition: A Level 2 PSA identifies the ways in which radioactive releases from the plant can occur following core damage and estimates their magnitudes and frequency. This analysis provides additional insights into the relative importance of the accident prevention and mitigation measures such as the reactor containment.

Level 2 PSA state of the art: WGRISK produced a state-of-the-art report on Level 2 PSA Methodology and Severe Accident Management in 1997. At the 2000 WGRISK meeting, it was reported that a review into results from the last 10 years of severe accident research has revealed that approximately 50 to 100 million USD has been spent but little information exists in published literature as to how this research has affected Level 2 PSAs.
The modern standard is now to carry out Level 2 PSAs for nuclear power plants, which provides information on the source terms and frequencies for the accident sequences that could happen following core damage. This information could be used as the basis for formulating the off-site emergency plans for the site.

At the last meeting of WGRISK in November 2002, members discussed the current state of the art for Level 2 PSAs and what, if any, actions were needed by the group in this area. Reports were given on two recently completed reviews of the 1997 report. The results were similar in that the sections on Level 2 PSA and severe accident management were still current and that many of the new Level 2 PSAs being performed are following the approaches stated in the existing report. However, it also noted several important points as follows:

  • Much work has been carried out since the report was issued, especially improvement in the modelling in severe accident codes,
  • Many new Level 2 PSAs have been completed since the report was issued, especially on VVER reactors;
  • Level 2 PSAs have led to the development and implementation of plant-specific severe accident management,
  • Most of the Level 2 PSAs in the last report were performed at full power. Much more experience is now available concerning low power and shutdown.

Based on these results, the CSNI agreed that the WGRISK should organise a workshop to collect new information (as described above) and that the results should be used to produce an addendum to the 1997 report.

NOTE: Copies of the 1997 report [NEA/CSNI/R(1997)11] are available on the NEA website. Hard copies of the report and additional references may be obtained through a request to the Secretariat.

Introduction

© 2004 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Last updated:
27 April 2004

Introduction