The NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) is responsible for NEA programmes and activities that support maintaining and advancing the scientific and technical knowledge base of the safety of nuclear installations.
Around 50 delegates from 22 countries and 2 international organisations gathered on 6-7 June 2023 for the 73rd CSNI meeting. The committee approved seven technical reports, six proposals for new safety-related investigations and supported the implementation of two new NEA joint experimental projects on spent fuel pool safety and corium properties of reactors.
The topics covered included long-term operation beyond 60 years, hazard and impact assessment and probabilistic safety assessment, response to COVID-19 from a human and organisational perspective, and advances in severe accident analyses and uncertainty evaluation. The committee also endorsed research recommendations to support safe deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs).
Meeting participants also set the committee programme for future work taking into account current nuclear safety challenges. Special emphasis was given to the preservation of key experimental datasets and the analyses and research needed to address knowledge gaps in validation and verification of computer codes used in SMR safety analyses. The next CSNI meeting will take place in December 2023.
