NEA Mandates and Structures

Working Group on Fuel Safety (WGFS)

Chair(s):	Zoltan HOZER, Hungary	Secretary:	Michelle BALES (michelle.bales@oecd-nea.org)
Vice-Chair(s):	Olivier MARCHAND, France Masaki AMAYA, Japan Anna ALVESTAV, Sweden
Member(s):	All NEA member countries^*
	Russia (Suspended*)
	^*Russian Federation suspended pursuant to a decision of the OECD Council.
Full participant(s):	European Commission Under the NEA Statute
Participant(s):	India
Observer(s)(International Organisation):	International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) By agreement
Date of creation:	31 December 1999
End of mandate:	31 December 2023

Mandate (Document reference):

The Strategic Plan for the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) [NEA/CSNI/R(2000)3]
Summary Record of the 39^th Meeting of the CSNI [NEA/SEN/SIN(2006)3]
NEA Committee Mandates and Structures [NEA/NE(2006)8)]. Note: includes change of name.
CSNI Operating Plan (2006-2009) [NEA/CSNI/R(2007)7]
Summary Record of the 40^th Meeting of the CSNI [NEA/SEN/SIN(2007)1]
Summary Record of the 47^th Meeting of the CSNI [NEA/SEN/SIN(2010)2]
CSNI Operating Plan (2011-2016) [NEA/CSNI/R(2011)2]
Summary Record of the 61^st Meeting of the CSNI [NEA/SEN/SIN(2017)2]
CSNI Operating Plan and Guidelines [NEA/CSNI/R(2017)17]
Summary Record of the 68^th Meeting of the CSNI [NEA/SEN/SIN(2020)3]
CSNI Operating Plan and Guidelines (2017-2022) [NEA/CSNI/R(2017)17/REV1]
Participant Status of India in the CSNI and its subsidiary bodies: 2018 Update of the NEA Participation Plan [NEA/NE(2018)8], Summary of Decisions taken at the 137th Session of the Steering Committee [NEA/SUM/DEC(2018)2] and official letter received from India on 31 October 2019 confirming its acceptance of Participant Status in the CSNI and its subsidiary bodies

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract from document NEA/CSNI/R(2017)17/REV1

Scope and Objectives

The main mission of the Working Group on Fuel Safety (WGFS) is to advance the current understanding and address safety issues related to fuel safety.

Specifically, the WGFS will:

Report to the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI), assist the Committee with its work and carry out the programme of work approved by the CSNI.
Assess the technical basis for current safety criteria and their applicability to fuel designs and materials, with a focus on fuel for currently deployed power reactors, which are predominantly water-cooled. The assessment will focus on anticipated transients and postulated accident conditions. Information relevant to fuel performance under normal operating conditions will be considered only to the extent necessary to assess the safety behaviour.
Provide guidance on needs and priorities for future research programmes in the area of fuel safety behaviour, including NEA joint projects on fuel, with the aim of understanding and adequately modelling key phenomena and of quantifying safety margins.
Review, from the safety point of view, the adequacy of fuel codes and methodologies used for different core assessments as related to high burn-up fuel, new fuel designs and materials. Cores with different fuel assembly designs and with MOX fuel are to be considered. Neutronic, thermal-hydraulic and materials aspects are considered as they relate to core safety assessment.
Provide a forum where safety-relevant fuel issues emerging from operating experience and research work can be addressed and resolved in an effective manner.

The Working Group will aim at facilitating international convergence in fuel safety issues, including experimental approaches, interpretation and use of the experimental data or of other relevant information.

Co-operation with other NEA bodies will be actively pursued, as appropriate, e.g. with the Working Group on the Analysis and Management of Accidents (WGAMA) on issues involving thermal hydraulics and/or fuel damage, with the Working Group on Fuel Cycle Safety (WGFCS) on fuel-storage issues and with subsidiary bodies of the Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) working on fuel issues. This will result in optimisation of both the resources mobilised by member countries for NEA activities and the quality of the work produced.

The Working Group will perform its activities mainly through organising topical meetings on specific subjects or through task forces dedicated to covering specific programme items.

Interactions

The NEA has established Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with a number of organisations – e.g. COG, CRIEPI, EPRI and WANO – to promote international collaboration, particularly in the area of nuclear safety. Accordingly, representatives from these organiszations can be invited to participate in the activities of CSNI working groups, consistent with the MOUs, to co-ordinate their work and to avoid unnecessary duplication.

The CSNI sponsors a number of joint safety research projects and expects that the CSNI working groups will promote technical exchanges with relevant projects, and provide technical support as appropriate.

Deliverables

The deliverables of the CSNI and its working groups are technical reports, proceedings of seminars or workshops, final summary reports from joint projects, state-of-the-art reports, and technical or collective opinion papers.