Nuclear Science Committee (NSC)

Ongoing

Nuclear Science Committee meeting, June 2022

Programme of work

The NEA nuclear science programme is developed and executed by the Nuclear Science Committee (NSC), comprising high-level scientific experts from all NEA member countries. The goal of the NEA in this sector is to help member countries identify, collate, develop and disseminate the basic scientific and technical knowledge required to ensure the safe, reliable and economic operation of current and next-generation nuclear systems. To meet this goal, staff of the Division of Nuclear Science and Education together with the Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) and its numerous Expert Groups, work closely to:

advance the existing scientific knowledge needed to enhance the performance and safety of current nuclear systems;
build a solid scientific and technical basis for the development of future generation nuclear systems;
support the preservation of essential knowledge in the field of nuclear science, including in reactor physics, fuel cycle physics and chemistry, criticality safety, material science, radiation shielding and nuclear data;
support member countries’ goal to develop essential skills capabilities through education and training of a new generation of experts for the nuclear sector;
organise international standard problem exercises (benchmarks) to form consensus on the state-of-the-art in computational methods, including sensitivity and uncertainty analyses;
work closely with the NEA Data Bank to support the evaluation and collection of integral experiments data and relational databases to be used for validation purposes in different application areas.

The Division of Nuclear Science and Education fosters horizontal co-ordination with the Data Bank, with a particular focus on the validation of modelling and simulation systems - the rigorous demonstration of their predictive capabilities against high quality, peer-reviewed experimental data collected by the NSC.

The main areas of work are:

Contact

Tatiana Ivanova

Current members areas:

NSC members area meetings (2023 onward)

NSC Bureau members area meetings (2022 onward)

Legacy:

NSC members' area (2011-2022 password protected | reminder)

Activities

results

Expert Group on Accident-tolerant Fuels for Light Water Reactors (EGATFL)

The expert group primarily acted as a forum for scientific and technical information exchange on advanced light water reactor (LWR) fuels with enhanced accident tolerance.

Expert Group on Improvement of Integral Experiments Data for Minor Actinide Management (EGIEMAM-II)

The expert group works in co-ordination with Working Party on Scientific Issues of Reactor Systems (WPRS) [including the IRPhE Project], Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle (WPFC) and Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC) [in particular with WPEC subgroup (SG39) and WPEC subgroup 40 (SG40 CIELO Pilot Project)].

Expert Group on Multi-physics Experimental Data, Benchmarks and Validation (EGMPEBV)

The expert group dealt with the activities associated with the certification of experimental data and benchmark models along with establishing the processes and procedures for using the data and benchmark models for validation of modelling and simulation tools and data. The group's work was completed in 2020 and its scope of work is currently addressed in the Working Party on Scientific Issues and Uncertainty Analysis of Reactor Systems (WPRS).

NEA Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology and Policy

The Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology and Policy acts as an inclusive network of experts in the nuclear energy sector, primarily from academia, focused on enabling the generation and flow of ideas. With creative problem-solving measures, the Global Forum aims to help confront some of the most significant challenges the nuclear energy sector faces today.

See

Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology (NEST) Framework

The NEA launched the Nuclear Education, Skills and Technology (NEST) Framework in partnership with its member countries to help address important gaps in nuclear skills capacity building, knowledge transfer and technical innovation in an international context.

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Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC)

The NEA's nuclear data evaluation co-operation activities involve the following evaluation projects: ENDF (United States), JENDL (Japan), ROSFOND/BROND (Russia), JEFF (other Data Bank member countries) and CENDL (China) in close co-operation with the Nuclear Data Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Working Party on Multi-scale Modelling of Fuels and Structural Materials for Nuclear Systems (WPMM)

The Working Party on Multi-scale Modelling of Fuels and Structural Material for Nuclear Systems (WPMM) was established to deal with the scientific and engineering aspects of fuels and structural materials, aiming at establishing multi-scale models and simulations as validated predictive tools for the design of nuclear systems, fuel fabrication and performance.

See

Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS)

The Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS) deals with technical and scientific issues relevant to criticality safety. Specific areas of interest include (but are not limited to) investigations of static and transient configurations encountered in the nuclear fuel cycle. These include fuel fabrication, transport and storage.

Working Party on Scientific Issues and Uncertainty Analysis of Reactor Systems (WPRS)

The Working Party on Scientific Issues and Uncertainty Analysis of Reactor Systems (WPRS) studies the reactor physics, fuel performance, and radiation transport and shielding in present and future nuclear power systems.

Working Party on Scientific Issues of Advanced Fuel Cycles (WPFC)

The Working Party on Scientific Issues of Advanced Fuel Cycles (WPFC) studies advanced nuclear fuel cycles, including fuel cycle scenarios, innovative fuels and materials, separation chemistry, waste disposal and coolant technologies