Panda facility under construction. Photo courtesy of the Paul Scherrer Institute

HYMERES phases

First phase (2013-2016)

The main objective of the first phase of the Hydrogen Mitigation Experiments fo...

The NEA Second Framework for Irradiation Experiments (FIDES-II) supports the fuel and material experimental needs of nuclear safety regulators, technical support organisations, research institutions ...

Image: Microscopic examination of U-bearing particles collected at Fukushima-Daiichi, JAEA

TCOFF Phases

First Phase (2017-2020)

The Thermodynamic Characterisation of Fuel Debris and Fission Products ...

Scheme showing the technical scope of NEA ICDE project activities, NEA 

Common-cause failure (CCF) events can significantly affect the availability of safety systems of nuclear power plants. In recog...

Feeders on the Reactor Face in the Feeder Cabinet Photo: Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)

The Component Operational Experience, Degradation and Ageing Programme (CODAP) combines the follow-u...

The Halden Reactor Project has been in operation at the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) in Norway since 1958 and is the oldest NEA joint project. It brings together a large international techni...

_{Image adapted from Romolo Tavani, Shutterstock.}

Exploring how innovative nuclear systems require innovative waste management solutions

The new NEA Joint Project on Waste Integration for Small and Adv...

              Halden Hammlab research facility for human factor research.

The NEA Halden HTO Project is a continuation of Man-Technology-Organisation (MTO) research carried out for more than 40 years as part of t...

JAEA  High-temperature Engineering Test Reactor Photo: Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)

The Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) Task Group on Advanced Reactor Experimental Facil...

Fire protection layer for electrical cables

The Stress Corrosion Cracking and Cable Ageing Project (SCAP) lasted four years (2006-2010). The project’s main objectives were to:

• establish two comple...

Long-handled tools are used to remove the damaged core from the TMI unit 2 reactor in the US. Samples taken from the fuel and the reactor vessel are examined to provide information about the Behaviou...

Cable samples of Beznau NPP

In 2006, two subjects, stress corrosion cracking and the degradation of cable insulation were selected as the focus of the Stress Corrosion Cracking and Cable Ageing Pro...

Pipe Degradation & Failure as a Function of In-Service Time (Years) at the time of the OPDE project closure

The goals of the Piping Failure Data Exchange (OPDE) Project were to:

• collect and analys...

PAKS control room.

Under an agreement with the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, (JAERI), the NEA supported an international research project with the goal of developing a plant safety monito...

The Fire Incidents Records Exchange (FIRE) Project started in 2002 and phase 7 of the project began in 2023 for a duration of three years, with 14 countries currently participating. The main purpose ...

RASPLAV-A-Salt Facility, EREC.

The RASPLAV* Project was regarded as a successor to the Three Mile Island Vessel Investigation Project (TMI-VIP) completed in 1993. The TMI-VIP Project was set up t...

Control room, PAKS NPP.

Software-based systems are used and retrofitted in operating nuclear power plants worldwide. The failure modes of both hardware and software in these systems are to some ext...

Post-test view inside OLHF-4 vessel showing penetrations and resolidified weld material at the vessel bottom.

During a severe accident, the lower head of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) can be subj...

                                                                                  EPICUR facility, IRSN.

STEM phases

First phase (2011-2015)

The STEM Project was initiated with a first phase in 20...

Photo: RBHT Test Facility. US NRC.

Modelling reactor core behaviour under accident conditions with delayed re-introduction of cooling water (commonly referred to as reflood) is a challenge for safety...

Illustration of the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory and locations of the in situ experiments planned in each of the three HIP Joint Project task

The Horonobe International Project (HIP) is a...

View of the RASPLAV-3 Facility.

The Material Scaling (MASCA) Project was a follow-up of the RASPLAV Project and investigated in-vessel phenomena during a severe accident with core melt. Specifica...

Scheme of the PSB-VVER facility, EREC

The NEA PSB-VVER project provided unique and useful experimental data for code validation using the PSB-VVER test facility. The PSB-VVER facility is a large-scal...

PKL facility. Photo: FRAMATOME, Germany

The Primärkreislauf-Versuchsanlage (Primary Coolant Loop Test Facility [PKL]) is a facility owned and operated by Framatome GmbH (formerly AREVA NP) in Erlange...

^{View of the ATLAS experimental loop. KAERI, Korea}

The Advanced Thermal-hydraulic Test Loop for Accident Simulation (ATLAS) Project was referenced in The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident...

Scheme of the ROSA LSTF facility, JAEA

The Rig-of-safety Assessment (ROSA) Project aimed to resolve issues in thermal-hydraulics analyses relevant to light water reactor (LWR) safety using the Japa...

General view of the EREC test facility BC V-213, source: EREC

There are several VVER-440/213* type nuclear power plants operating in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Russia and Ukraine...

Electrical cable fire test, IRSN.

The NEA PRISME project addressed in a series of 3 phases from 2006 till 2022 fire risk research. Operating experience shows that fire is one of the highest risks i...

In a core melt accident, if the molten core is not retained in-vessel despite severe accident mitigation actions, the core debris will relocate to the reactor cavity region and interact with the stru...

PAKS Nuclear Power Plant, Hungary.

During a fuel crud removal operation on the Paks-2 unit on 10 April 2003, several fuel assemblies were severely damaged. The assemblies were being cleaned in a sp...

Image at melt distribution and its contour at MBC (KAERI).

The Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) Working Group on Analysis and Management of Accidents (WGAMA) initiated a co...

Scheme of the THAI+ facility, Becker Technologies.

The experimental investigations carried out in the frame of the THAI (2007-2009), THAI-2 (2011-2014) and THAI-3 (2016-2019) projects contributed s...

Scheme of the PKL facility, Framatome GmbH.

The SESAR Thermal-hydraulics (SETH) Project began in 2001 and consisted of thermal-hydraulic experiments in support of accident management, which were ca...

Multi-compartment THAI+ test facility, Becker Technologies GmbH.

In the wake of the OECD/NEA THAI project, conducted in three phases from 2007 until 2019, a new project, THAI Experiments on Mitigat...

View looking down onto the LOFT reactor

The Loss-of-fluid Test (LOFT) Research Programme was originally set up by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Part of the programme was later broadened int...

Irradiation Vessel with Coupons, CNL

The NEA Behaviour of Iodine Project (BIP) was created to provide separate effects and modelling studies of iodine behaviour in a nuclear reactor containment bui...

PANDA vessel assembly (construction phase, 1993), PSI.

The PANDA project is a follow-up of the HYMERES-2 project, and its general objective is to advance the knowledge on the containment of thermal...

Scheme of the DIVA Facility, IRSN

The Fire Risk Assessment through Innovative Research Project is a follow-up of the PRISME project series which addresses new fire scenarios and new topics of inter...

Image: QUENCH facility at KIT. Court. KIT. 

The purpose of the QUENCH-ATF project is to investigate the chemical, mechanical and thermal-hydraulics behaviour of ATF claddings in Design Basis Accident...

Cabri Reactor (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives)

The Cabri International Project (CIP) began in March 2000 to study the behaviour of nuclear fuel rods and cladding durin...

A cabinet containing copper bus before the HEAF test (left) and after the test(right). Source: NRC

Massive electrical discharges, referred to as high energy arcing faults (HEAF), have occurred in nuc...

Left: Test facility for qualification of melt spreading tests. Photo: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL).
Right: Example of corium melt pouring for a melt spreading preparatory test. Photo: Argonne Nat...

PKL facility. Photo: FRAMATOME, Germany

The Experimental Thermal Hydraulics for Analysis, Research and Innovations in Nuclear Safety (ETHARINUS) project serves the objectives of investigating phenome...

Photos: SFP testing. Left: fuel assembly after a Zr fire; right: fire ignition test. SNL/USNRC.

The goal of the Sandia Fuel Project was to provide experimental data relevant for hydraulic and ignitio...

Left: Scheme of Studsvik LOCA test facility Right: Microstructure of fragmented nuclear fuel, Studsvik

Units 1 and 2 End of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (4^th October, 2011). Photo: Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings

The Benchmark Study of the Acci...