NEA Monthly News Bulletin

NEA publications
Nuclear safety and regulation
Radioactive waste management
Nuclear science
Data Bank

NEA publications


NEA News, No. 27.1
ISSN 1605-9581. 40 pages (2 Mb).

Disponible également en français :
AEN Infos, n° 27.1
ISSN 1605-95XX

Nuclear Fuel Behaviour in Loss-of-coolant Accident (LOCA) Conditions
State-of-the-art Report
ISBN 978-92-64-99091-3. 376 pages (10 Mb)

Nuclear safety and regulation


RWM publications and reportsThe NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) held its 21st meeting on 8-9 June and reviewed progress made in its working groups (Operating Experience, Inspection Practices, Public Communication of Nuclear Regulatory Organisations and Regulation of New Reactors) as well as its interactions with the NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) and the Multinational Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP). The committee also agreed to prepare a new CNRA guidance booklet on The Regulator's Role in Assessing Licensee Oversight of Vendor and Other Contracted Services.

The CSNI held its 45th meeting on 10-11 June and reviewed progress made in its working groups (Integrity of Components and Structures, Analysis and Management of Accidents, Human and Organisational Factors, Risk Assessment, Fuel Safety and Fuel Cycle Safety). The CSNI approved several reports including the first report from the Task Group on Advanced Reactor Experimental Facilities (TAREF) dealing with gas-cooled reactors (GCR) and the final report from the Task Group on Defence of Electrical Systems and Grid Interaction (DIDELSYS). Finally, the CSNI decided to convene an experts' meeting in October 2009 to discuss a programme proposal addressing GCR safety issues with the Japanese High-temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR).

The MDEP Steering Technical Committee (STC) met to review the progress made by its working groups (Digital Instrumentation and Controls, Codes and Standards, Vendor Inspection Co-operation, EPR Design and AP1000 Design). The STC is considering the establishment of a new working group to evaluate designs similar to the pebble bed high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR). The STC also reviewed interaction between MDEP working groups and the CNRA Working Group on the Regulation of New Reactors (WGRNR).

Radioactive waste management

RWM publications and reportsThe second meeting of the Working Group on Reversibility and Retrievability took place on 3-5 June and was attended by delegates from 12 countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Commission. Topics discussed included safeguards, the relationship between closure and reversibility/retrievability, operational safety issues, the implementation of stepwise decision making and related provisions for project adaptability and flexibility, planning and financial aspects, analogues to reversibility and retrievability from other fields, and the role of reversibility and retrievability in the Swedish waste management programme. The group also looked into the development of a "retrievability scale" to be used to illustrate the stages of repository development and their relationship with such issues as reversibility, retrievability, and active and passive safety measures. Testing its application to participating countries' programmes is planned for early 2010.

Nuclear science


Legal section publications and reportsThe NEA Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) met on 10-12 June to review ongoing work and to discuss potential new activities. Following in-depth discussion on reactor core behaviour during transients in a sodium fast reactor (SFR), it was decided to establish an Expert Group on Sodium Fast Reactor Core Feedback and Transient Response (SFR-FT) under the Working Party on Scientific Issues of Reactor Systems (WPRS). Based on a proposal from Japan, it was also decided to establish a new NSC Expert Group on Integral Experiments for Minor Actinide Management, which will review existing information, identify missing experimental work required for minor actinide management and propose activities for international co-operation. The committee discussed the focus of its programme of work and the balance between activities on current and advanced nuclear systems. More information about the NSC programme of work is available here.

The NEA Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC) met on 25-26 June in Port Jefferson, NY, USA, to review the status of the major evaluated nuclear data libraries and worldwide progress in nuclear data measurement. One of the more important challenges in the nuclear data field is the development of high-quality uncertainty data. This is reflected in the fact that four out of the eight active WPEC sub-groups are devoted to the production and use of covariance data. Three WPEC sub-groups have completed their work and plan to issue their final reports before the end of 2009. One new sub-group, on the evaluation of Pu-239 data in the resonance region, was established. More information is available here.

Data Bank


NEA Data Bank newsletter

Computer program services

New computer programs available

25-JUN-2009 NEA-1746 ZZ PBMR-400, OECD/NEA PBMR Coupled Neutronics/Thermal-hydraulics Transient Benchmark - The PBMR-400 Core Design
(Tested)
25-JUN-2009 NEA-1849 ZZ PSBT NUPEC PWR Sub-channel Bundle Tests Benchmark
(Tested)
24-JUN-2009 NEA-1731 ZZ BFBT, OECD/NEA-US/NRC NUPEC BWR Full-size Fine-mesh Bundle Tests Benchmark
(Tested)
23-JUN-2009 NEA-1769 ZZ UAM-LWR, Uncertainty Analysis in Modelling, Coupled Multi-physics and Multi-scale LWR Analysis
(Tested)
16-JUN-2009 NEA-1848 ZZ KALININ3, KALININ-3 Coolant Transient Benchmark
(Tested)
15-JUN-2009 NEA-1841 IFPE/EXP-BDL-406, performance of natural UO2 fuel irradiated at low linear powers in NRU
(Arrived)

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An online archive of previous editions is available here.