NEA Monthly News Bulletin – August 2020

New at the NEA

The Generalised Nuclear Database Structure: Establishing an International Nuclear Data Standard

Nuclear data are produced by dozens of organisations around the world and shared internationally for the safe operation of nuclear power reactors, waste and reprocessing facilities, and nuclear medicine applications. The most common nuclear data format is the Evaluated Nuclear Data File 6 (ENDF‑6) format. Originally designed for 1960s era punch‑card readers, this format poses artificial limitations, requires legacy programming techniques, and obliges new scientists and engineers to learn outdated techniques.

Recognising the need for a new format that embraces modern computer programming paradigms and can address more sophisticated user requirements, the NEA launched a project in 2013 to review the requirements for an international replacement for the ENDF‑6 format. The project convened experts from major nuclear data evaluation projects worldwide and culminated in the new international nuclear data standard Generalised Nuclear Data Structure (GNDS) 1.9. The NEA hosted an expert roundtable discussion on 8 July 2020 on the GNDS 1.9, its use, specifications, and the strategic vision of the project moving forward. A video recording of the event is available here.

Nuclear cost and risk reduction drivers, Unlocking Reductions in the Construction Costs of Nuclear: A Practical Guide for StakeholdersUnlocking Reductions in the Construction Costs of Nuclear: A Practical Guide for Stakeholders

The NEA has released a new report with recommendations to unlock meaningful cost reductions for future nuclear new build construction projects. This NEA report, entitled Unlocking Reductions in the Construction Costs of Nuclear: A Practical Guide for Stakeholders, focuses on potential cost and project risk reduction opportunities for contemporary Gen III reactor designs but which are also applicable to small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced reactor concepts for deployment in the longer term. The study identifies longer‑term cost reduction opportunities associated with the harmonisation of codes and standards and licensing regimes. It also explores the risk allocation schemes and mitigation priorities at the outset of well‑performing financing frameworks for new nuclear that require a concerted effort among government, industry and the society as a whole.

Report: oe.cd/nea-redcost-2020
Press release: oe.cd/nea-2020-01

The role of nuclear energy during COVID-19 and beyondThe role of nuclear energy
during COVID‑19 and beyond

The Coronavirus (COVID‑19) pandemic has had significant impacts on the global economy and energy sector. It has also underlined the importance of electricity reliability and resilience during major disruptions. With governments considering a broad range of options for economic recovery and job creation, it is becoming increasingly clear that stimulus packages have the opportunity to support energy systems that both fulfil these criteria while meeting long‑term environmental goals and energy security.

The NEA is examining the regulatory and operational impacts of the crisis, and working closely with its members to enable exchanges of policy approaches and best practices around the world. As part of these efforts, the Agency issued four policy briefs and hosted a series of discussions around these policy briefs to explore the role that nuclear energy can play in the post‑COVID‑19 recovery, whilst also supporting the path towards a truly sustainable and environmentally responsible energy future. If you missed these live discussions, video recordings are available on the NEA's YouTube channel. For more information and to read the NEA's policy recommendations, please visit oe.cd/nea-covid-19-3.

NEA Director-General delivers keynote at the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE), August 2020NEA Director‑General delivers keynote at the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE)

NEA Director‑General William D. Magwood, IV, delivered a keynote speech at the 2020 edition of the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE). Jointly organised by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Chinese Nuclear Society (CNS) and the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), the event took place virtually on 4‑5 August 2020. During his speech, Mr Magwood spoke about the current status of and the future prospects for nuclear energy. "People in OECD countries expect to maintain their quality of life, while leaders of emerging economies expect that they can continue to reduce poverty and improve health, education and quality of life for their people," he said. "Along with renewables, nuclear energy drives a pathway for countries around the world to save the environment and also to bring their people out of poverty or to maintain quality of life."

International Roundtable on the Final Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel: Summary ReportInternational Roundtable on the Final Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel: Summary Report

The NEA, the United States Department of Energy and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan jointly organised international roundtable discussions on the final disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. At these meetings, policymakers from 15 countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gathered and shared knowledge about public understanding and technological development related to final disposal. A new NEA report summarises the discussions held and experiences shared at these roundtable sessions held during 2019 and 2020. Download the report at oe.cd/nea-7529.

Did you miss the NEA WebChat on gender balance in nuclear energy?

The NEA is working with its members to explore new and creative approaches to improve gender balance in the nuclear science and technology arena. As part of these efforts, the Agency brought together a Leadership Panel with a Young Generation Panel on 28 May 2020. Speakers from both panels shared their personal experiences in nuclear science and technology. Then, they explored how governments, research bodies and the private sector can help improve the representation of women in all spheres of the nuclear sector. A video recording of the event is available here.


New publications

International Roundtable on the Final Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel: Summary Report

International Roundtable on the Final Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel

Read the summary report

Unlocking Reductions in the Construction Costs of Nuclear: A Practical Guide for Stakeholders

Unlocking Reductions in the Construction Costs of Nuclear: A Practical Guide for Stakeholders

Read the report

Specifications
for the Generalised Nuclear
Database Structure (GNDS)

Specifications for the Generalised Nuclear Database Structure (GNDS): Version 1.9

Read the report


Nuclear safety technology and regulation

Generation IV International Forum (GIF) Risk and Safety Working Group (RSWG) meeting, July 2020Safety of Generation IV systems

The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) Risk and Safety Working Group (RSWG) met via video conference on 30 June-1 July 2020 to discuss its draft technical report on risk-informed approach for event selection and component classification. During the meeting, the group made progress on two other forthcoming reports: Basis for the Safety Approach for Design and Assessment of GIF Systems and Safety Design Criteria for Lead-cooled Fast Reactors. Participants also discussed a proposal to hold a workshop on molten salt reactor risk and safety.


Radiological protection

Crowd human silhouettesCommunity engagement and resilience during radiation emergencies

The NEA Expert Group on Non‑Radiological Public Health Aspects of Radiation Emergency Planning and Response (EGNR) is developing an operational approach for mitigating the mental health and psychosocial impacts of radiation emergencies. In this context, the EGNR co‑organised a second web‑based workshop with the World Health Organization (WHO) on 10 July 2020 to explore community engagement and resilience in various types of crises, such as the COVID‑19 pandemic, natural disasters and nuclear accidents. Community engagement is more and more considered as a key concept by policy makers to support the decision making process and is needed in every phase of the nuclear emergency cycle, especially during recovery where community efforts can be underpinned through risk evaluation and communication. During the panel discussion, NEA Director-General Magwood highlighted the importance of effective communication and noted that care must be taken to ensure community leaders represent their wider communities and do not exacerbate existing social tensions. Psychological impacts of emergencies vary depending on many factors such as gender, age, individual job situations, housing, and levels of activity, as well as availability of and access to social support. This underlines the necessity for considering both individual and community-level circumstances during radiation emergencies, since these two levels exhibit a complex interplay.


Radioactive waste management

New NEA expert groups on decommissioning and legacy management

The NEA Committee on Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Legacy Management (CDLM) has established two new expert groups:

  • Expert Group on Costing for Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Legacy Management (EGCDL);
  • Expert Group on a Holistic Process for Decision Making on Decommissioning and Management of Complex Sites (HDCS).
These new expert groups will further enrich the CDLM's programme of work and allow the committee to produce tangible results for member countries in the area of decommissioning and legacy management. They will respectively serve as fora for international exchange and co-operation on costing issues and decision making for complex sites with different levels of uncertainties.

Onkalo pilot cave at final depth in Onkalo, Finland.Advancing Geological Repositories from Concept to Operation

The Sixth International Conference on Geological Repositories (ICGR 2020) will take place on 8‑11 November 2020 in Helsinki, Finland. Building upon the previous conferences held in Denver (1999), Stockholm (2003), Berne (2007), Toronto (2012) and Paris (2016), ICGR 2020 will focus on "Advancing Geological Repositories from Concept to Operation" and demonstrate the significant progress of geological repositories in the last two decades. The event will bring together high level decision makers from responsible government ministries, regulatory bodies, waste management organisations, research institutes, and local stakeholders, as well as young professionals and students, to review current perspectives of geological repository development. It will show the progress made in the last two decades towards geologic disposal of radioactive waste by facilitating an exchange of information and experience. Participants will discuss various best practices in demonstrating technical reliability and share approaches in building human capacity, as well as in developing stakeholder confidence in the safety construction and operation of long term geological repositories. For more information and to register, please visit www.icgr2020.org.


Nuclear law

NEA Nuclear Law BulletinNEA Nuclear Law Bulletin is accepting submissions

The NEA Nuclear Law Bulletin welcomes submissions of articles and studies from professionals and academics. Topics generally fall into the following categories: radiation protection and nuclear safety, nuclear installations, radioactive materials, radioactive waste management, environmental protection, non‑proliferation, nuclear third party liability, and nuclear trade. This list is non‑exhaustive and articles have been published outside of these areas, but still related to nuclear law. For an article to be considered in the next edition, final submissions must be received by 1 September. More information on the publication process, time frames, language and house style is available at oe.cd/nea-nlb-sub.


Nuclear science and data

International co-operation on nuclear criticality safety

The NEA Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS) held its annual meetings on 6-10 July 2020 via video conference with 63 experts from 14 countries. The participants discussed technical and scientific issues relevant to nuclear criticality safety, including analyses of critical experiments, modelling of temperature effect in spent nuclear fuel, Monte Carlo techniques for criticality prediction, and uncertainty analysis for criticality safety assessments. During the meeting, the committee also elected Dr Kotaro Tonoike as its new Chair.

Nuclear dataNew NEA reports on nuclear data evaluation

Nuclear energy applications require knowledge of fundamental nuclear physics in order to design and operate facilities. Advanced reactor designs have target accuracies in essential operating quantities that are beyond the current state of the art in modelling and simulation. Improved understanding of the relevant physics and/or uncertainties is therefore necessary to achieve these accuracies, requiring new measurements and/or data evaluations. In this context, the NEA Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co‑operation (WPEC) launched a project to study the physics of 241Am, the isotope with the greatest opportunity for uncertainty reduction in some advanced systems. The recently published report Improving nuclear data accuracy of the Am-241 capture cross-section provides a state-of-the-art evaluation of the essential 241Am physics for advanced nuclear system operation. The WPEC also completed a report on Processing of covariance data in the resonance region that benchmarks methods for uncertainty quantification in the so-called resolved resonance region. Both reports are based on co-ordinated international experiments and reviews by experts from NEA member countries.

The joint evaluated fission and fusion nuclear data library, JEFF-3.3
	The joint evaluated fission and fusion nuclear data library, JEFF-3.3

A recently published article in the new issue of the European Physical Journal A (EPJ A) is now the authoritative reference publication for JEFF-3.3, the latest release of the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) Nuclear Data Library Project. The JEFF Project is a collaborative effort among the member countries of the NEA Data Bank to produce a common set of evaluated nuclear data, mainly for fission and fusion applications. The article is available to read here. For more information on JEFF-3.3, please visit oe.cd/nea-jeff-3-3.



NEA course on Thermodynamic Data Collection and AssessmentNEA (TDB) Project course: Thermodynamic data collection and assessment

The 4th edition of the annual NEA Thermochemical Database (TDB) Project course on thermodynamic data collection and assessment will be held as a free-of-charge webinar on 12 November 2020. This course is designed to familiarise scientists with current NEA TDB activities and standards, provide an overview of data collection and analysis techniques, and work through some real system examples to demonstrate the critical evaluation and data assessment process. Find out more and apply at oe.cd/nea-tdb-2020.

Computer program services

Training courses

New computer codes and data library (restricted distribution)


An online archive of previous editions is available here.

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