NEA Monthly News Bulletin - March 2013

New at the NEA

Four new NEA expert groups have recently been established as part of the 2013-14 programme of work. They will be addressing climate change, notably in regards to assessing the vulnerability of nuclear power plants and the cost of adaptation (see article below); the costs of decommissioning nuclear power plants; the social and economic impacts of nuclear power; and the costs of nuclear accidents, liability issues and their impact on electricity costs. All four groups will be carrying out studies over the next 18 months and will produce reports at the end of their mandates. More information.



New publications

Chemical Thermodynamics of Tin - Volume 12
NEA No. 6354, 644 pages.

CSNI Technical Opinion Papers No. 15: Ageing Management of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities
NEA No. 6990, 40 pages.

Stakeholder Confidence in Radioactive Waste Management: An Annotated Glossary of Key Terms
NEA No. 6988, 64 pages.

Validation of the JEFF-3.1 Nuclear Data Library: JEFF Report 23
NEA No. 7079, 76 pages.

 

Nuclear development

Climate change and nuclear power plants

The first meeting of the Ad Hoc Expert Group on Climate Change: Assessment of the Vulnerability of Nuclear Power Plants and Cost of Adaptation was held on 6-7 February 2013. This activity is part of the NEA Nuclear Development Committee's programme of work for 2013-14. It aims to assess the cost of the impact of extreme weather events (droughts, heat waves, storms, floods, etc.) on the operation of nuclear power plants, and the cost of adaptation in terms of design changes, technological development or system management. The group of 12 specialists from 9 NEA member countries, the European Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency bring expertise in the areas of nuclear safety and risk assessment, meteorology, climate change, sustainable energy systems, nuclear technology and economics, a wide range of disciplines that are well suited to the study. The group intends to publish its final report and recommendations in the summer of 2014. More information.


Nuclear science

Scientific issues of reactor systems

The NEA Working Party on Scientific Issues of Reactor Systems held its 10th meeting on 22 February 2013, with participants representing the NEA expert groups on reactor fuel performance, radiation transport and shielding, uncertainty analysis in modelling, reactor physics and advanced nuclear systems. Just prior to this meeting, the Task Force on Sodium Fast Reactor Core Feedback and Transient Response also convened in Paris. A key component of the new technical programmes for these groups is the development and application of integral experiments databases for fuel performance, radiation shielding and international reactor physics. An extensive review has been initiated to look at current and future data requirements and to identify any changes needed to the structure, contents or review processes for these databases. The NEA has also developed a database analysis tool for the International Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments Project, which will be included in the 2013 edition of its handbook. More information.


Data Bank

Interactive JANIS Books

The first interactive versions of the JANIS Books are available online. The JANIS Books are a compilation of cross-section curves of evaluated and experimental data from a number of libraries, nuclear reactions and associated reaction products. JANIS Books are available for nuclear reactions induced by neutrons, photons and light-charged particles. These interactive versions allow users to zoom in the plots, access complementary information and plot additional data. JANIS Books can be accessed at: www.oecd-nea.org/janis/book.

NEA Data Bank newsletter

Training courses

Computer program services

New computer programs available

17-JAN-13

NEA-1486

ICSBEP-2012, International Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiment Handbook
(Arrived)

20-FEB-13

NEA-1813

EASYQAD 2.0, Visualization for Gamma and Neutron Shielding Calculations
(Arrived)

18-FEB-13

NEA-1857

PHITS-2.52, Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System
(Arrived)

14-FEB-13

NEA-1876

IRPHE-VENUS-RECYCLE, Plutonium Recycling Physics Project Critical Experiments
(Arrived)

11-FEB-13

NEA-1872

ZZ BUGENDF70.BOLIB, ENDF/B-VII.0 Broad-Group Coupled X Sect. Lib. for LWR Shielding & Pressure Vessel Dosimetry Applic.
(Tested)

01-FEB-13

NEA-1856

VESTA 2.1.5, Monte Carlo depletion interface code and AURORA 1.0.0, Depletion analysis tool
(Arrived)


An online archive of previous editions is available here.

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