Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin

Covers new material for February 2008:

NEA publications

Free publications are available at www.oecd-nea.org/pub/. Paper copies may be requested by sending an e-mail to neapub@oecd-nea.org.

Occupational Exposures at Nuclear Power Plants
Sixteenth Annual Report of the ISOE Programme, 2006
ISBN 978-92-64-99042-5. 120 pages, 1.3 mb.

The Regulatory Goal of Assuring Nuclear Safety
ISBN 978-92-64-99044-9. 56 pages, 333 kb.

The Role of Research in a Regulatory Context (RRRC-2)
Workshop Proceedings, Paris, France, 5 December 2007
ISBN 978-92-64-99045-6. 136 pages, 3.9 mb.

Nuclear safety

The NEA has issued a report on The Use of International Operating Experience Feedback for Improving Nuclear Safety. This report reviews existing international operating experience feedback (OEF) processes and networks, their connections with national OEF systems and provides recommendations for more effective use of international OEF to improve nuclear safety.

The NEA has also issued a report on Collection and Analysis of Common-cause Failures of Switching Devices and Circuit Breakers. This report documents a study performed as part of the international common-cause data exchange (ICDE) project. The ICDE project is the only international effort where large amounts of common-cause data from different NEA member countries are collected and analysed. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/jointproj/icde.html.

Nuclear science

The Fourth NEA Workshop on Advanced Reactors with Innovative Fuels (ARWIF 2008) was held on 20-22 February 2008 in Tsuruga and Fukui, Japan. During the opening session it was announced that the October 2008 restart of the Monju nuclear reactor had been officially approved. Workshop participants took part in discussions of reactor physics, nuclear fuel performance and material technology, reactor core behaviour and the fuel cycle of advanced reactors with different types of fuels or fuel lattices. Of particular interest to workshop participants were innovative concepts and issues for nuclear reactors and their fuel, especially fast reactors. More information is available at www.oecd-nea.org/science/meetings/ARWIF2008/.

Data Bank

Thermochemical Database (TDB) Project

The fourth phase of the Thermochemical Database (TDB) Project began on 1 February 2008. The initial focus during this phase of the project will be to finalise reviews of chemical thermodynamic data for inorganic compounds and complexes of thorium, iron and tin. Overall, the fourth phase of the TDB project will concentrate on:

• performing complementary studies of inorganic species and compounds of iron;
• assessing auxiliary data;
• updating a selected value database developed during the first three phases of the project; and
• reviewing inorganic species and compounds of molybdenum.

More information on the TDB Project is available at www.oecd-nea.org/dbtdb/.

Computer program services

New computer programs available