NEA Monthly News Bulletin - April 2012

New at the NEA

OECD Memorial Conference for the Great East Japan Earthquake

On 14 March, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Japanese Delegation to the OECD co-organised a Memorial Conference for the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011. Mr. Motohide Yoshikawa, Japan's Ambassador to the OECD, moderated the conference and gave opening remarks. Speakers included OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, NEA Director-General Luis E. Echávarri and Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Richard H. Jones. The conference was an opportunity to review the situation in Japan one year later, to present the OECD's efforts and contributions to the recovery and to share lessons learnt with OECD member countries.

Remarks by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría
Video: NEA Director-General Luis E. Echávarri on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident


New publications

Nuclear Law Bulletin No. 88
ISSN: 0304-341X, approximately 160 pages.
Disponible maintenant en français.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for Nuclear Reactor Safety Applications
CD.

International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments
ISBN: 978-92-64-99163-7, DVD.

International Structure for Decommissioning Costing (ISDC) of Nuclear Installations
ISBN: 978-92-64-99173-6, 192 pages.

Reversibility of Decisions and Retrievability of Radioactive Waste
ISBN: 978-92-64-99169-9, 28 pages.

Réversibilité des décisions et récupérabilité des déchets radioactifs
ISBN: 978-92-64-99170-5, 32 pages.

 

Nuclear safety and regulation

Onsite accident management experts meet to discuss the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident

As part of the Integrated NEA Fukushima Actions for Safety Enhancements (INFASE), a meeting of onsite accident management experts was held on 20-22 March at the request of the Senior-level Task Group on Impacts of the Fukushima Accident (STG-FUKU).  Experts from 10 NEA member countries met to identify potential new work in the area of accident management and to build on lessons learnt from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Participants proposed tasks in the areas of transitional procedures, equipment and design, onsite and offsite interfaces and human and organisational factors.  These proposals will be considered by the NEA Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) , the NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI)  and the NEA Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) at their next meetings for possible follow-up action.


Radioactive waste management

NEA co-organises Fukushima decommissioning workshop and site visit

On 12-14 March, the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) held an International Experts' Workshop and International Symposium on the Decommissioning of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Units 1-4 in Tokyo, Japan. This event was co-organised with the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The event provided a forum for discussion and exchange of information among technical experts from Japanese utilities, research and design organisations, regulatory bodies, manufacturing and service companies, as well as other international experts on decommissioning, radioactive waste management and robotics.  Attendees visited the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the symposium. Plant manager Takeshi Takahashi received the delegates who then toured the earthquake-resistant building that serves as command post for all operations, various waste sites, the damaged power units and the newly reinforced anti-tsunami seawall. Read more about NEA work following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident here.

RWMC discusses 2012 activities and international initiatives

Over 60 participants from 23 countries and international organisations participated in the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) meeting on 21-22 March. In addition to reviewing the programme of work, participants discussed the European Commission's radioactive waste and spent fuel management directive; the final report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future; the issues impacting long-term storage of spent fuel; the treatment and disposal of graphite waste; and a review of cost implications for the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The Committee will support collaborative work on issues of operational safety and industrialisation of geological disposal.  It will support the NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) national workshop in the Czech Republic in October 2012. It will also support activities related to ongoing decommissioning work where prudent advances in costing are being made. More information is available in the recent flyer on Estimation of Nuclear Facility Decommissioning Costs. Delegates from Sweden reported on the quality of the NEA's international peer review of activities concerning the construction of a radioactive waste repository in Forsmark.


Radiological protection

Radiological protection and long-lived radioactive waste management

The Committee for Radiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) and the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) organised a joint topical session on 21 March on the radiological protection aspects of long-lived radioactive waste management. Inspired by recent efforts by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) to revise a related recommendation, over 100 experts from both committees discussed the nature and use of radiological protection criteria and the applicability of basic ICRP principles to the long-term safety of radioactive waste disposal. While there was a broad agreement on the substance of the issues, the two groups tend to use different terminology in different contexts. The joint session helped both committees to move towards a common understanding. The CRPPH and the RWMC will work towards a joint statement to be used for communicating with non-specialist stakeholders.

CRPPH sets goals for 2012

The NEA Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) met on 22-24 March to finalise its 2012 programme of work. Key areas include: lessons learnt from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident; support to the Japanese government in post-accident stakeholder involvement; the role of scientific knowledge and social values in making radiological protection decisions; assessment of the INEX-4 emergency exercise results; and the continued contribution to the development of new radiological protection recommendations by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and new standards by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).


Medical radioisotopes

Progress in assessing impact of conversion to low-enriched uranium on medical radioisotopes

On 20-21 March, the NEA held its second workshop in its study on the market impacts of converting to the use of low-enriched uranium (LEU) targets for molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) production (including on costs and global security of supply). At the workshop, supply chain experts reviewed the data and the modelling being used for the assessment of impacts. They provided additional information to refine the data and suggested modifications to improve the modelling. The experts agreed to provide further information to ensure the most credible and useful assessment. Experts also discussed policy options that governments could consider to ensure the smooth transition to using LEU targets for Mo-99 production. A report on the findings will be released in 2012 through the High-level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR).


Nuclear law

Developments in nuclear liability legislation and compensation schemes

At the 28-29 March meeting of the NEA Nuclear Law Committee, experts from Russia and India discussed developments in their respective countries in adoption and implementation of national legislation on nuclear liability. The Committee also held a special session on the legal aspects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident which included a comprehensive presentation from Japanese officials and experts on the nuclear liability regime in Japan, a report on the progress made in providing relief to victims of the accident, and a detailed description of the establishment and activities of the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation.  The committee will continue to follow developments in Japan and other countries as it seeks ways to enhance the scheme for third party liability in the nuclear field.


Data Bank

NEA Data Bank newsletter

Computer program services

New computer programs available

26-MAR-12

DLC-0245

ZZ VITAMINB7/BUGLEB7, Broad-Grp, Fine-Grp, Coupled N/Gamma Cross-Sec Lib derived from ENDF/B-VII.0 Nuclear Data (Arrived)

21-MAR-12

NEA-1864

GEF, Code for Simulation of Nuclear Fission Process (Arrived)

16-MAR-12

NEA-1688

SACALC3, Calculates the average solid angle subtended by a volume (Arrived)

14-MAR-12

NEA-1552

SINBAD ACCELERATOR, Shielding Benchmark Experiments (Arrived)

14-MAR-12

CCC-0767

SWORD 4.0, SoftWare for Optimization of Radiation Detectors (Arrived)

13-MAR-12

IAEA1434

U-SHIELDER, Estimates Shielding Thickness of Depleted Uranium for Photons from 0.5 to 10 MeV (Arrived)

09-MAR-12

CSNI2020

SETH-2, OECD/NEA SESAR Thermal-hydraulics Project (Arrived)

08-MAR-12

CSNI2019

SCIP, OECD/NEA Studsvik Cladding Integrity Project (Arrived)

06-MAR-12

CSNI2018

BIP PROJECT, OECD/NEA Behaviour of Iodine Project (Arrived)

05-MAR-12

NEA-1833

FLUKA2011.2, Monte Carlo general purpose tool for calculations of particle transport and interactions with matter (Arrived)

01-MAR-12

NEA-1553

SINBAD FUSION, Neutronics Benchmark Experiments (Arrived)

01-MAR-12

NEA-1517

SINBAD REACTOR, Shielding Benchmark Experiments. (Arrived)


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.
Registration is free; please use this link.

An online archive of previous editions is available here.