Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin

Covers new material for May 2004:

New publications
Nuclear safety and regulation
Nuclear science
Data Bank

New publications

Basic Studies in the Field of High-temperature Engineering
Third Information Exchange Meeting, Ibaraki-ken, Japan, 11-12 September 2003
ISBN 92-64-01601-5. 282 pages.

Geological Disposal: Building Confidence Using Multiple Lines of Evidence
First AMIGO Workshop Proceedings, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, 3-5 June 2003
ISBN 92-64-01592-2. 204 pages.

Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS): Design Requirements and Constraints
Workshop Proceedings, Turku, Finland, 26-29 August 2003
ISBN 92-64-02068-3. 148 pages (5.4 mb).

Stakeholder Participation in Radiological Decision Making: Processes and Implications
Case Studies for the Third Villigen Workshop, Villigen, Switzerland, 21-23 October 2003
ISBN 92-64-02065-9. 104 pages (3.7 mb).


Nuclear safety and regulation

In a ceremony held on 27 April 2004 at the PKL large-scale test facility in Erlangen, Germany, the new NEA PKL joint project was launched. "PKL" is the abbreviation of the German term for primary system which constitutes one of the two coolant systems in pressurised water reactors (PWR). "The PKL facility is a unique installation in Europe for researching safety issues for pressurised water reactors" said Rüdiger Steuerlein, Managing Director of Framatome ANP GmbH, which operates the test facility.

Framatome ANP's facility in Erlangen is the sole operating system test facility in Europe that models western PWRs on a 1:1 scale. It comprises the entire primary system with an electrically heated core, essential secondary system components and the key operating and safety systems for a 1300 megawatt PWR plant. It has been in use for almost 30 years researching topical safety issues concerning pressurised water reactors.

The findings from the PKL tests will not only be used for driving forward technological development and answering questions raised by licensing authorities and authorised inspection agencies; they will also be used to validate simulation programmes for the analytical description of accident sequences and in operator training. The key criteria for NEA involvement in the test project was the international relevance of this issue and the fact that the facility can, in future, be of special scientific benefit to the participating countries and organisations.

The joint project is scheduled to run until 2006. Roughly a dozen NEA member countries will fund 50% of the programme; the remaining half will be funded by German utilities, Framatome ANP and the German government. More information about the project is available at www.oecd-nea.org/jointproj/pkl.html.


Nuclear science

The Joint Tenth International Conference on Radiation Shielding (ICRS-10) and Radiation Protection and Shielding (RP&S-2004) was held on 9-14 May in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. The joint conference was the largest of its kind so far: 350 participants from 31 countries presented 380 papers over the course of 40 sessions. The topics encompassed a wide range of activities including: nuclear power; fusion neutronics and shielding; accelerator and irradiation facilities shielding; radiation shielding in aeronautics; space missions; medical diagnosis and therapy. Following the success of the joint conference format, it will be repeated in 2008 for ICRS-11 and RPS-2008. The ICRS conference series dates back to the establishment of the NEA (then ENEA) in 1958. Many papers covered activities carried out under the aegis of the NEA Nuclear Science Committee and the Data Bank. Three tutorials held during the conference covered "Big Challenges in Monte Carlo: from Physics to Biology Radiation Shielding for Diagnostics Radiology", "Radiation Therapy" and an "Introductory Course in Proton Cancer Therapy".

A workshop on Shielding Aspects of Accelerators, Targets and Irradiation Facilities (SATIF-7) was held on 17-18 May in Sacavém, Lisbon, Portugal. SATIF-7 was the seventh workshop organised by the NSC Expert Group on the Shielding Aspects of Accelerators, Targets and Irradiation Facilities. The main objectives of the meeting were to:

  • promote the exchange of information among experts in the field of accelerator shielding and related topics;
  • identify areas where international co-operation can be fruitful; and
  • carry on a programme of work in order to achieve progress in specific priority areas.
During the course of the workshop expert group members reported on progress in their joint work. Several datasets were identified to be released to the SINBAD database, as were computer codes to be added to the Computer Program Service. The workshop was attended by 36 participants from nine countries; more information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/science/meetings/SATIF-7/satif7.html.


Data Bank

Computer program services

A page listing all new programs in the last 12 months can be found at: www.oecd-nea.org/tools/abstract/new. .

  26-MAY-2004 IAEA1409 ZZ POINT-2004, Linearly Interpolable ENDF/B-VI.8 Data for 13 Temperatures
(Arrived)
  25-MAY-2004 NEA-1703 ZZ-VITENEA-J, AMPX 175-N,42-gamma multi-group X-section library for nuclear fusion applications
(Tested)
  25-MAY-2004 NEA-1702 ZZ-VITENEA-E, AMPX 174-N,38-gamma multi-group X-section library for multi-dimensional radiation transport and dose evaluation
(Tested)
  24-MAY-2004 IAEA1411 NAAPRO, Neutron Activation Analysis Prognosis and Optimisation code
(Arrived)
  24-MAY-2004 NEA-1562 MICROX-2, Group Constant Generator with Resonance Interference and Self-Shielding
(Tested)
  19-MAY-2004 NEA-1603 DCHAIN-SP 2001, Code System for Analyzing Decay and Build-up Characteristics of Spallation Products
(Tested)
  19-MAY-2004 NEA-1564 EASY, European Neutron Activation System
(Tested)
  19-MAY-2004 NEA-0969 EDMULT-6.4, Electron Depth Dose Distribution in Multilayer Slab Absorbers
(Tested)
  19-MAY-2004 IAEA1402 ENDVER, The ENDF File Verification Support Package
(Tested)
  19-MAY-2004 PSR-0352 SCAMPI, Problem Dependent Library Preprocessing in AMPX Format
(Tested)
  19-MAY-2004 NEA-1688 SACALC2, Calculates the average solid angle for source-detector geometries
(Tested)
  19-MAY-2004 NEA-1525 PENELOPE2003, A Code System for Monte-Carlo Simulation of Electron and Photon Transport
(Tested)
  19-MAY-2004 NEA-1692 FFT-BM, Code Accuracy Evaluations with the 1D Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) Methodology
(Tested)
  06-MAY-2004 NEA-1210 ZZ HATCHES-16, Database for Radio Chemical Modelling
(Arrived)



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