Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin

March 2001

Covers new material for February 2001

The monthly bulletin only lists new and updated material. It is distributed by e-mail to registered users of the Nuclear Energy Agency's online services and is available online at www.oecd-nea.org/general/mnb/. The bulletin is sent monthly by e-mail to subscribers. If you are not already a subscriber, use the registration form to subscribe.

The March bulletin covers the following items:

New publications
Nuclear safety
Radiation protection
Legal affairs
Nuclear science
Data Bank

New publications

The Agency's new publications this month are:

Confidence in Models of Radionuclide Transport for Site-specific Assessment
ISBN 92-64-18620-4. 312 pages.

Pyrochemical Separations
Workshop Proceedings, Avignon, France, 14-16 March 2000
ISBN 92-64-18443-0. 332 pages.

Nuclear Regulatory Challenges Arising from Competition in Electricity Markets
ISBN 92-64-08460-6, 34 pages (125 kb).

Nuclear Waste Bulletin
Update on Waste Management Policies and Programmes, No. 14, 2000 Edition
ISBN 92-64-18461-9, 133 pages (798 kb).

Nuclear safety

Nuclear safety news
  • Four reports were released by the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) during February. "Bubbler Condenser Related Research Work - Present Situation" [NEA/CSNI/R(2001)3] provides views of the OECD Support Group on VVER-440 bubbler condenser research work, the results of the EC PHARE/TACIS bubbler condenser experimental qualification project, and recommendations for future research work in this area. "The Status of Degraded Core Issues - Synthesis Paper" [NEA/CSNI/R(2001)5] examines this issue with regard to light water reactors. Both "Flame Acceleration and Deflagration-to-Detonation in Nuclear Safety" [NEA/CSNI/R(2000)7] and "In-Vessel Core Degradation Code Validation Matrix" [NEA/CSNI/R(2000)21] are now available on CD-ROM. All the above reports can be obtained from Dr. Jacques Royen, jacques.royen@oecd.org.
  • Forthcoming workshops: Operator Training for Severe Accident Management and Instrumentation Capabilities during Severe Accidents (organised in co-operation with EDF) 12-14 March 2001, Lyon, France; Implementation of Severe Accident Management Measures (organised in co-operation with PSI, KK Beznau, KK Leibstadt and EDF), 10-12 September 2001, Villigen, Switzerland. Information on these workshops can be obtained from Dr. Jacques Royen, jacques.royen@oecd.org. Please note that participation in these workshops is restricted.
Regular features

Radiation protection

A new expert group to address the evolution of the system of radiation protection, the EGRP, has been created by the Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health (CRPPH). The EGRP will further explore the issues outlined in the CRPPH document, A Critical Review of the System of Radiation Protection. It takes up where the Expert Group on Controllable Dose (EGCD) left off. The EGRP has chosen to initially address issues of triviality, decision-making processes, dose limits, justification and optimisation. More information is available at 01-03-rp.html.

Legal affairs

On 7 February 2001, the OECD Council appointed seven independent judges to sit on the European Nuclear Energy Tribunal. This Tribunal was initially established in 1957 in accordance with the Convention on the Establishment of a Security Control in the Field of Nuclear Energy. The Council, acting on proposals submitted by countries party to the 1957 Convention made the appointments in accordance with a procedure of rotation. Since the 1970s the jurisdiction of the Tribunal has been limited to resolving differences concerning the interpretation or application of the 1960 Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and the 1963 Brussels Supplementary Convention. The application of its security control system (the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons) was suspended in the 1970s in order to avoid duplicating similar systems established by Euratom and the IAEA. As there have been no major nuclear accidents in a Paris Convention country, and no resulting disputes between contracting parties, no cases have been brought before the Tribunal. The judges appointed for the term of office commencing 7 February 2001 are: Mme Danièle Dauvignac (France), Mr Armin Von Bogdandy (Germany), Mr Gerard Hogan (Ireland), Mr Giovanni Paleologo (Italy), Mr Trond Dolva (Norway), Mrs Luz Corretjer (Spain), and Mr Seref Unal (Turkey). The Tribunal will hold an inaugural session in the coming months.

Nuclear science

Updated information on the activities of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety and its related expert groups is available at www.oecd-nea.org/science/wpncs. In particular, the specifications of the following new benchmarks are available: Phase II-C of the burnup credit benchmark series (to study the effect of burnup profile assymetry on criticality calculations); four benchmarks of the newly established expert group on source convergence analysis.

Data Bank

Nuclear data services

A joint CEA/NEA/CFDN/GEDEON Seminar on Nuclear Data will be held in Aix-en-Provence, France, on 14-18 May 2001. On 14 May a workshop on the Evaluation of Uncertainties for Reactor Needs will be held. A meeting for measurement specialists will take place in parallel with an NJOY Workshop/Users' Meeting on 15 May. Over the final three days the JEFF Working Party on Nuclear Data Evaluation, Processing and Benchmarking will hold its meetings. The usual sub-groups (decay data, fission product cross sections and intermediate energy data) will hold sessions on 16 May. The EFF/EAF Monitor Group will meet in a parallel session on 17 May with a final joint session the morning of 18 May. Further information on the schedule and registration details is available at www.oecd-nea.org/dbdata.

Computer program services

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

New software packages available from the Data Bank:

22-FEB-2001 IAEA1382 SRNA-2KG, Proton Transport In 3d By Monte Carlo Techniques (Arrived)

15-FEB-2001 IAEA1383 SYRCO-1, 1-D, 2 Groups Multi-Zone Interactive Diffusion Code (Arrived)

15-FEB-2001 PSR-0158 SAMMY, Reson Param From Experimental N_X-Sec By R-Matrix_Theory (Arrived)

08-FEB-2001 CCC-0696 LAHET 2.8, Code System for High Energy Particle Transport Calculations. (Arrived)

Instructions on retrieving material from the NEA may be found at . Please note that scientific database access is only available to residents of OECD/NEA Data Bank member countries.

Should you wish to unsubscribe, please use this link.