Publications

The world’s nuclear power reactors are ageing, with the majority approaching the end of their planned
operational lifetimes in the coming years. The adequacy of funding for decommissioning and radioactive
waste management (RMW) thus increasingly commands the attention of decision-makers.
This report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) combines a solid conceptual framework with the
insights from twelve case studies of NEA member countries to propose a new approach to the adequacy of
funding that is both robust and flexible.
Current funding systems in NEA countries are overall adequate. The challenges ahead however are
formidable: decommissioning and RWM are moving from design to implementation, returns on assets
are low and societal preferences can evolve. The very long-term nature of the solutions, in particular
for radioactive waste disposal, is also not easily compatible with the economic lifetimes of the original
liability holders.
This requires that all elements of the system – accrued funds, expected future returns, the lifetimes of
nuclear power plants, the expected costs of politically sustainable technical solutions and the liabilities
for residual risks – are reviewed and realigned at regular intervals. Complementing existing approaches
with such a circular approach will strengthen funding arrangements and ensure their adequacy for decades
to come.

Much has been learnt in the ten years since the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and the subsequent
accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, but significant challenges still remain.
This report presents the current situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and the
responses by Japanese authorities and the international community since the accident. It will assist both
policymakers and the general public to understand the multi-dimensional issues stemming from the
accident. These include disaster recovery, compensation for damages, nuclear safety, nuclear regulation,
radiation protection, plant decommissioning, radioactive waste management, psycho-social issues in the
community and societal resilience.
Building on two previous reports released by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in 2013 and 2016,
the report examines the plant’s future, that of the affected region and population, as well as outlining
areas for further improvement and how the international community can help.

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are gaining recognition among policymakers and industry players
as a promising nuclear technology. SMRs can be defined as nuclear reactors with a power output
between 10 MWe and 300 MWe that incorporate by design higher modularisation, standardisation and
factory-based construction levels enabling more predictable delivery models based on the economies
of series. Today, more than 50 concepts are under development covering a wide range of technology
approaches and maturity levels. The value proposition of the SMR technology also includes potential
financing and system integration benefits. These attractive features, however, rely on a business case
that requires the development of a global SMR market to become economically viable. Large-scale
deployment of SMRs faces several technical, economic, regulatory and supply chain challenges and
will need considerable governmental efforts and efficient international collaborative frameworks to be
realised in the next decade.

Les Donnees sur l?energie nucleaire, compilation annuelle de statistiques et de rapports nationaux
preparee par l?Agence de l?OCDE pour l?energie nucleaire, presentent la situation de l?energie nucleaire
dans les pays membres de l?AEN et dans la zone de l?OCDE. Les informations communiquees par les
gouvernements comprennent des statistiques sur la production d?electricite totale et nucleaire, les
capacites et les besoins du cycle du combustible et, lorsqu?elles sont disponibles, des projections jusqu?en
2040. Les rapports nationaux proposent une synthese des politiques energetiques, de la situation des
programmes electronucleaires et des evolutions du cycle du combustible.
En 2020, la pandemie de COVID-19 a mis en avant l?importance de la securite de l?approvisionnement
en electricite dans nos societes modernes. S?il est difficile d?evaluer les consequences a long terme sur
la production d?electricite, on observe que, pendant la crise, l?energie nucleaire a continue de soutenir la
securite d?approvisionnement et demeure, avec les renouvelables, l?une des sources d?electricite les plus
resilientes. En 2019, les centrales nucleaires ont continue de fournir de grandes quantites d?electricite en
base faiblement carbonee, et ce dans un contexte de forte concurrence avec les combustibles fossiles
bon marche et les energies renouvelables. Les pays decides a inclure ou conserver le nucleaire dans leur
bouquet energetique ont poursuivi leurs projets de deploiement ou d?augmentation de leur puissance
nucleaire installee. Ainsi, des projets de construction progressent en Finlande, en Hongrie,
au RoyaumeUni, en Russie et en Turquie. De plus amples informations sur ces evolutions et
d?autres developpements sont fournies dans les nombreux tableaux, graphiques et rapports nationaux
que contient cet ouvrage. Cette publication contient des < StatLinks >. Fonctionnant comme un lien internet,
un StatLink fournit l?acces a la feuille de calcul correspondante.

The decisions made about exposure to ionising radiation tend to be driven by subjective judgements about
the health risks that radiation exposure may cause. In order to reach decisions that are effective and
sustainable, it is essential for nuclear safety regulators, governments, nuclear facility operators and other
nuclear energy decision makers to communicate scientific, technical and regulatory information regarding
radiological and other risks to all stakeholders. Communicating such information can be complex since
people judge and evaluate risks differently depending on the context and on their perceptions of risk.
In this context, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) organised the “Stakeholder Involvement Workshop
on Risk Communication: Towards a Shared Understanding of Radiological Risks” in September 2019.
The workshop provided an opportunity for participants to share perspectives and lessons learnt in risk
communication, identifying what has been effective and what has been less effective in the various cases.
By understanding how situation-specific factors influence risk communication, a common framework
addressing such circumstances can begin to emerge.
This report attempts to capture the collective wisdom generated over the three days of interactions in the
hope that the knowledge gained from this workshop will benefit governments and citizens alike.

It is essential that organisations in the nuclear community maintain a healthy safety culture to achieve
common goals regarding the safe operation of nuclear facilities and the safe use of nuclear material.
Regulatory bodies are no exception, as a key element of the interconnected system which includes
licensees, research institutions, technical support organisations, as well as governmental organisations
and other stakeholders. By their very nature, regulatory bodies deeply influence the safety culture and
the safety of the organisations they regulate and oversee. Based on their regulatory strategy, the way
they carry out their daily oversight work, the type of relationship they cultivate with licensees, the values
they convey and the importance they give to safety, regulatory bodies profoundly impact the licensees’
safety culture, their sense of responsibility for safety and, by extension, the safety of their installations.
Regulatory bodies apply a number of methods, practices and approaches to foster and sustain a healthy
safety culture. This report provides an overview and practical examples to build the regulatory bodies’
safety culture competence and to perform self-reflection and self-assessment with regard to their own
safety culture and its impact on the safety culture of the organisations they oversee. Drawing directly
from the experiences from OECD Nuclear Energy Agency member countries, the report discusses effective
methods to disseminate safety culture throughout the regulatory body, to build competence in safety
culture, and to develop self-reflection and self-assessment activities. Finally, the report presents ten
conclusions based on lessons learnt and best practices to inspire managers to continuously develop their
regulatory body’s safety culture.

Uranium is the raw material used to produce fuel for long-lived nuclear power facilities, necessary
for the generation of significant amounts of low-carbon electricity and other uses, such as heat and
hydrogen production, for decades to come. Although a valuable commodity, major producing countries
limited total production in recent years in response to a depressed uranium market. Uranium production
cuts have unexpectedly deepened with the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020,
leading to some questions being raised about future uranium supply.
This 28th edition of the “Red Book”, a recognised world reference on uranium jointly prepared by the
Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), provides analyses and
information from 45 producing and consuming countries in order to address these and other questions.
The present edition reviews world uranium market fundamentals and presents data on global uranium
exploration, resources, production and reactor-related requirements. It offers updated information on
established uranium production centres and mine development plans, as well as projections of nuclear
generating capacity and reactor-related requirements through 2040.

The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Handbook contains criticality safety benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments that were performed at various critical facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by criticality and safety analysts as well as nuclear data evaluators to validate calculational techniques and data. The handbook is produced by the ICSBEP working group, under the aegis of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). While co-ordination and administration of the ICSBEP is undertaken by the NEA, each participating country is responsible for the administration, technical direction, and priorities of the project within their respective countries.
The evaluated criticality safety benchmark data in the 2020 edition contains 582 evaluations with benchmark specifications for 5 053 critical, near-critical or subcritical configurations, 45 criticality alarm placement/shielding configurations with multiple dose points for each, and 237 configurations which have been categorised as fundamental physics measurements that are relevant to criticality safety applications.
New to the handbook are the first experiments from the Thermal/Epithermal eXperiments (TEX) program that were performed at the National Critical Experiments Research Center (NCERC) in the USA.

This joint report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is the ninth in a series of studies on electricity generating costs. As countries work towards ensuring an electricity supply that is reliable, affordable and increasingly low carbon, it is crucial that policymakers, modellers and experts have at their disposal reliable information on the cost of generation. This report includes cost data on power generation from natural gas, coal, nuclear, and a broad range of renewable technologies. For the first time, information on the costs of storage technologies, the long-term operation of nuclear power plants and fuel cells is also included. Also for the first time, the report is also accompanied by an online Levelised Cost of Electricity Calculator. The calculator allows for easy download of all data tables in the report, and empowers the user to examine the impact of changing select variables, such as the discount rate, fuel prices or the cost of carbon.

The detailed plant-level cost data for 243 power plants in 24 countries, both OECD and non-OECD, is based on the contributions of participating governments and has been treated according to a common methodology in order to provide transparent and comparable results. Low-carbon electricity systems are characterised by increasingly complex interactions of different technologies with different functions in order to ensure reliable supply at all times. The 2020 edition of Projected Costs of Generating Electricity thus puts into context the plain metric for plant-level cost, the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE). System effects and system costs are identified with the help of the broader value-adjusted LCOE, or VALCOE metric. Extensive sensitivity analyses and five essays treating broader issues that are crucial in electricity markets round out the complementary information required to make informed decisions. A key insight is the importance of the role the electricity sector plays in decarbonising the wider energy sector through electrification and sector coupling.

The key insight of the 2020 edition of Projected Costs of Generating Electricity is that the levelised costs of electricity generation of low-carbon generation technologies are falling and are increasingly below the costs of conventional fossil fuel generation. Renewable energy costs have continued to decrease in recent years and their costs are now competitive, in LCOE terms, with dispatchable fossil fuel-based electricity generation in many countries. The cost of electricity from new nuclear power plants remains stable, yet electricity from the long-term operation of nuclear power plants constitutes the least cost option for low-carbon generation. At the assumed carbon price of USD 30 per tonne of CO2 and pending a breakthrough in carbon capture and storage, coal-fired power generation is slipping out of the competitive range. The cost of gas-fired power generation has decreased due to lower gas prices and confirms the latter’s role in the transition. Readers will find a wealth of details and analysis, supported by over 100 figures and tables, that establish the continuing value of the Projected Costs of Generating Electricity as an indispensable tool for decision-makers, researchers and experts interested in identifying and comparing the costs of different generating options in today’s electricity sector.

The Nuclear Law Bulletin is a unique international publication for both professionals and academics in the field of nuclear law. It provides readers with authoritative and comprehensive information on nuclear law developments. Published free online twice a year in both English and French, it features topical articles written by renowned legal experts, covers legislative developments worldwide and reports on relevant case law, bilateral and international agreements as well as regulatory activities of international organisations.

Worldwide consensus exists within the international community that geological repositories can provide the necessary long-term safety and security to isolate long-lived radioactive waste from the human environment over long timescales. Such repositories are also feasible to construct using current technologies. However, proving the technical merits and safety of repositories, while satisfying societal and political requirements, has been a challenge in many countries.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, the United States Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency co-organised a forum for discussion with the aim of developing a strategy for addressing this challenge through international co-operation. At the International Roundtable meetings, policymakers from 15 countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency gathered and shared knowledge about public understanding and technological development related to final disposal.
This report is a summary of the discussions held and experiences shared during the two sessions of the International Roundtable on Final Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel, held on 14 October 2019 and 7 February 2020 in Paris, France.

Today, with the completion of First-of-a-Kind Gen-III nuclear reactors, the nuclear sector is at a critical juncture. These reactors have led in several parts of the world to delays and construction costs overruns that have challenged the competitiveness of nuclear power and are driving the risk perception of future projects. Against this background, a review of historical and recent lessons learnt from nuclear and non-nuclear project offers ample evidence that nuclear new build can be delivered cost and time-effectively.

This study assesses the policy and governance frameworks needed to drive positive learning and continuous industrial performance for nuclear new build. The study also explores the risk allocation and mitigation priorities needed to define adequate financing schemes for these projects. In the longer-term, it identifies cost reduction opportunities associated with the harmonisation of code and standards and licensing regimes and new innovative designs (i.e. small modular reactors and advanced reactors).

Radioactive waste results from many different activities in health care, industry, research, and power production. All such waste must be managed safely, with the protection of human health and the environment as the highest priority. After decades of research, the international scientific community is now confident that placing high level radioactive waste in deep geological repositories (DGRs) is both safe and effective.

The government of each country has the absolute right and responsibility to implement the energy and environmental policies it believes are best. In the case of the disposal of radioactive waste, it is paramount that these debates should be informed by objective facts. This report therefore aims to provide the general reader with the current state of knowledge with regards to the management of high level radioactive waste in DGRs.

Insights from Leaders in Nuclear Energy shares personal insights through a series of in-depth conversations between the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Director-General and leading figures in the sector. Each conversation explores the current issues and offers new ways to address challenges and aim for excellence.

William D. Magwood IV, Director-General of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), sat down with Rumina Velshi, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, on 17 January 2020. Ms Velshi has extensive experience in the energy sector, including its technical, regulatory and adjudicatory aspects. She visited the NEA to attend briefings on key programmes and activities and to have an open discussion on issues related to leadership in today’s nuclear energy sector. In a wide-ranging discussion, she shared her perspectives as a leader in nuclear safety, her long-standing involvement in nuclear energy regulation and her activities promoting careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The conversation covered the important aspects of leadership, current issues affecting an organisation that promotes nuclear safety, preparation for future nuclear energy technologies and the achievement of a better gender balance in the workforce.

Knowledge of basic nuclear physics data is essential for the modelling and safe operation of all types of nuclear facilities. The de facto international standard format, Evaluated Nuclear Data File 6 (ENDF-6) format, was designed originally for 1960s era punch-card readers. The replacement of the system of codes built off this format has been recognised as an important initiative.
The ability to use increasingly high-fidelity nuclear physics, coupled to accurate uncertainties, is crucial for advanced simulations. This in turn requires more detailed and accurate data, then requiring improvements to the data storage standards, simultaneously enabling robust Quality Assurance and transfer of knowledge to the next generation.
In 2013, the NEA Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC) launched a project to review the requirements for an international replacement for ENDF-6. The recommendations prompted the creation of a new Expert Group on a Generalised Nuclear Data Structure (GNDS) in 2016 that has used these requirements as the framework for a new format specification. Following rigorous international review, version 1.9 was unanimously approved as the first official published format.

This is Volume 13b in the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) “Chemical Thermodynamics” series. It is the second part of a critical review of the thermodynamic properties of iron, its solid compounds and aqueous complexes, initiated as part of the NEA Thermochemical Database Project Phase IV (TDB IV), and a continuation of Part 1, which was published in 2013 as volume 13a. The database system developed at the NEA Data Bank ensures consistency not only within the recommended data sets of iron, but also among all the data sets published in the series. This volume will be of particular interest to scientists carrying out performance assessments of deep geological disposal sites for radioactive waste.

A wealth of technical information exists on nuclear fuel cycle options – combinations of nuclear fuel
types, reactor types, used or spent nuclear fuel (SNF) treatments, and disposal schemes – and most
countries with active nuclear power programmes conduct some level of research and development
on advanced nuclear fuel cycles. However, perhaps because of the number of options that exist, it is
often difficult for policy makers to understand the nature and magnitude of the differences between
the various options.
This report explores the fuel cycle options and the differentiating characteristics of these options. It
also describes the driving factors for decisions related to both the development of the fuel cycle and
the characteristics resulting from implementing the option. It includes information on the current
status and future plans for power reactors, reprocessing facilities, disposal facilities, and the status of
research and development activities in several countries. It is designed for policy makers to understand
the differences among the fuel cycle options in a way that is concise, understandable, and based on
the existing technologies, while keeping technical discussions to a minimum.

Radioactive waste inventory data are an essential element in the development of a national radioactive waste management programme since these data affect the design and selection of the ultimate disposal methods. Inventory data are generally presented as an amount of radioactive waste under various waste classes, according to the waste classification scheme developed and adopted by the country or national programme in question. Various waste classification schemes have thus evolved in most countries, and these schemes classify radioactive waste according to its origin, to criteria related to the protection of workers or the physical, chemical and radiological properties of the waste and the planned disposal method(s).
The diversity in classification schemes across countries has restricted the possibility of comparing waste inventories and led to difficulties in interpreting waste management practices, both nationally and internationally. To help improve this situation, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) developed a methodology that ensures consistency of national radioactive waste and spent fuel inventory data by presenting them in a common scheme in direct connection with accepted management strategy and disposal routes. This report provides the final version of the methodology and presenting scheme for spent nuclear fuel and the radioactive waste of all existing types. Additionally, there are recommendations in the report on how to enhance the comparability of national inventory data using the NEA methodology. The NEA support for joint efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Commission on harmonisation of the reporting process by member countries to the Joint Convention and European Council Directive 2011/70 EURATOM is also presented in the report.

Low-level and very low-level waste represent the vast majority of radioactive waste by volume from decommissioning activity at nuclear facilities around the world, but they are only a small fraction of the radiological inventory. The availability of the appropriate waste management infrastructure, including a robust process and procedures for managing waste, waste disposal routes and an appropriate safety culture, are key components of an optimal approach to decommissioning. Recognising the important role of an effective waste management strategy in the delivery of a successful decommissioning programme, the former NEA Working Party on
Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD) established an expert group in 2016 – the Task Group on Optimising Management of Low-Level Radioactive Materials and Waste from Decommissioning (TGOM) – to examine how countries manage (very) low-level radioactive waste and materials arising from decommissioning.
This report explores elements contributing to the optimisation of national approaches at a strategic level, describing the main factors and the relationships between them. It also identifies constraints in the practical implementation of optimisation based on
experience in NEA member countries.

The International Reporting System for Operating Experience (IRS) is an essential system for the international exchange of information on safety related events at nuclear power plants worldwide. The fundamental objective of the IRS is to enhance the safety of nuclear power plants through the sharing of timely and detailed information on such events, and the lessons that can be learnt from them, to reduce the chance of recurrence at other plants. The first edition of this publication covered safety related events reported between 1996 and 1999. This seventh edition covers the 2015-2017 period and highlights important lessons learnt from a review of the 246 event reports received from participating states during those years. The IRS is jointly operated and managed by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Nuclear Law Bulletin is a unique international publication for both professionals and academics in the field of nuclear law. It provides readers with authoritative and comprehensive information on nuclear law developments. Published free online twice a year in both English and French, it features topical articles written by renowned legal experts, covers legislative developments worldwide and reports on relevant case law, bilateral and international agreements as well as regulatory activities of international organisations.
Feature articles and studies in this issue include: “A perspective on key legal considerations for performance-based regulating” and “Technology-neutral licensing of advanced reactors: Evaluating the past and present NRC framework”.

Understanding the nature of neutron scattering in various media at operating temperatures, whether they be reactor fuels, cryogenically cooled neutron sources or any materials at room temperature, is an essential component in the modelling of all nuclear systems. Neutrons that reach these energies, which are millionths of the initial fission and spallation neutron energies, cause virtually all of the fission that occurs in present reactors, including in Generation III+ designs, as well as in several designs that are being proposed for future reactors. As part of a broad range of co-operative activities in basic nuclear science, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is supporting collaboration between experimentalists, theoreticians and modelling experts to advance the state of the art in nuclear data.
This report reviews progress made by the NEA Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC) Subgroup on Thermal Scattering Kernel Measurement, Evaluation and Application, which brought together a full spectrum of relevant experts to advance the state of the art in thermal scattering law data. The collaboration resulted in 33 new material evaluations, including uranium nitride (UN), silicon carbide (SiC), silicon oxide (SiO2) and aluminium oxide (Al2O3), as well as the re-evaluation of critical materials such as water (H2O) and heavy water (D2O), and enhanced evaluations of “nuclear” graphite at multiple levels of porosity and of phase Ih ice. Nuclear data libraries have adopted these data for their most recent releases – including the new Evaluated Nuclear Data File (American) and Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (NEA Data Bank) – which are being used around the world as international standards.

Nuclear Energy Data is the Nuclear Energy Agency’s annual compilation of statistics and country reports documenting nuclear power status in NEA member countries and in the OECD area. Information provided by governments includes statistics on total electricity produced by all sources and by nuclear power, fuel cycle capacities and requirements, and projections to 2040, where available. Country reports summarise energy policies, updates of the status in nuclear energy programmes and fuel cycle developments. In 2018, nuclear power continued to supply significant amounts of low-carbon baseload electricity, despite strong competition from low-cost fossil fuels and subsidised renewable energy sources. Governments committed to having nuclear power in the energy mix advanced plans for developing or increasing nuclear generating capacity, with the preparation of new build projects making progress in Finland, Hungary, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Further details on these and other developments are provided in the publication’s numerous tables, graphs and country reports.

Les Données sur l’énergie nucléaire, compilation annuelle de statistiques et de rapports nationaux préparée par l’Agence de l’OCDE pour l’énergie nucléaire, présentent la situation de l’énergie nucléaire dans les pays membres de l’AEN et dans la zone de l’OCDE. Les informations communiquées par les gouvernements comprennent des statistiques sur la production d’électricité totale et nucléaire, les capacités et les besoins du cycle du combustible et, lorsqu’elles sont disponibles, des projections jusqu’en 2040. Les rapports nationaux présentent brièvement les politiques énergétiques, la situation des programmes électronucléaires et ceux du cycle du combustible. En 2018, l’énergie nucléaire a continué de fournir des quantités importantes d’électricité en base faiblement carbonée, et ce dans un contexte de forte concurrence avec les combustibles fossiles bon marché et les énergies renouvelables. Les pays décidés à inclure ou conserver le nucléaire dans leur bouquet énergétique ont poursuivi leurs projets de déploiement ou d’augmentation de leur puissance nucléaire installée. Ainsi, des projets de construction progressent en Finlande, en Hongrie, au Royaume-Uni et en Turquie.

Many countries are dealing with challenges stemming from nuclear and radiological legacy sites. In particular, managing these sites in an open and transparent fashion while taking into account the views of all relevant stakeholders and building confidence in the solutions adopted is an ongoing challenge.
This report provides information on the challenges and lessons learnt in legacy management and regulation based on practical experience documented in 13 case studies and site visits conducted by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. A preliminary framework for a stepwise process to help reach an accepted and sustainable end-state is proposed based on this experience. The complex challenges and interactions among stakeholders in progressing in a harmonised, step-by-step manner are also examined in depth. The report concludes with recommendations for future international collaborative work to improve and test the preliminary framework, and to examine and address the complexity of the relevant interactions.

Radioactive waste repositories are designed to isolate waste from the living environment without human intervention over extended periods of time. Nevertheless, the intention is not to abandon the repositories, but to provide the oversight that is necessary to ensure that they are not forgotten by society. In response to this challenge, the Nuclear Energy Agency launched the international initiative “Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) Across Generations”. As a result, an in-depth understanding of
this issue was developed, as well as a specific methodology to address it. The RK&M preservation toolbox, for example, offers a menu with 35 different preservation mechanisms and guidelines on how to combine and implement them.

This report may be used as a general guide to the RK&M preservation topic. It presents a historical review, addresses ethical considerations, analyses the fundamentals of RK&M preservation, outlines various mechanisms and indicates how to develop these mechanisms into a systemic RK&M preservation strategy. The report aims to inspire and assist a variety of actors so that they can discuss and develop national and repository-specific RK&M preservation strategies.

The NEA mentoring workshops are in line with the initiatives being undertaken by countries around the world to ensure that expertise is maintained in highly technical areas such as nuclear safety, radiological protection and other critical disciplines. Capacity-building efforts focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields need to be sustained and reinforced – particularly those aimed at young women, who are significantly under-represented in many areas. It is in this spirit that the NEA partnered with Japan’s National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) in 2017 to organise its first International Mentoring Workshop in Science and Engineering, on 25-26 July 2017 in Chiba, Japan. The success of this first workshop has led to the organisation of two additional workshops in 2018 – one in Tokyo, Japan, and the other in Ávila, Spain. In 2019, another workshop was held on 2-3 August in Fukushima, Japan, in co-operation with the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (NDF). These workshops are a clear manifestation of the NEA’s commitment to maintaining, and further strengthening, its momentum in encouraging a future generation of female leaders in science and engineering fields.

The International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments contains reactor physics benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments that were performed at nuclear facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by reactor designers, safety analysts and nuclear data evaluators to validate calculation techniques and data. While co-ordination and administration of the International Reactor Physics Evaluation (IRPhE) project is undertaken by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) at the international level, each participating country is responsible for the administration, technical direction and priorities of the project within their respective countries. The information and data included in this handbook are available to NEA member countries, to all contributing countries and to others on a case-by-case basis. Example calculations are presented; however, these do not constitute validation or endorsement of the codes or cross-section data.
The 2019 edition of the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments contains data from 166 experimental series that were performed at 56 nuclear facilities. A total of 162 of the 166 evaluations are published as approved benchmarks. The remaining four evaluations are published as draft documents only.
The cover of the handbook shows the graphite structural material from the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), United States. Newly evaluated measurements from MSRE have been added to this edition of the handbook.
The 2019 edition is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1787/8d549c0f-en.

One of the many important lessons learnt about nuclear safety over the years has been that human aspects of nuclear safety are as important as any technical issue that may arise in the course of nuclear operations. The international nuclear community can work together to identify and address issues associated with components and systems and compare operational experiences, but identifying how human behaviour affects safety and the best approaches to examine this behaviour from country to country remains less common.
Practical experience has nevertheless shown that there are important differences in how people work together and communicate across borders. People’s behaviours, attitudes and values do not stop at the gate of a nuclear installation, and awareness of the systemic nature of culture and its deeper aspects, such as the dynamics of how values and assumptions influence behaviours, continues to evolve.
The Country Specific Safety Culture Forum was created to gain a better understanding of how a national context relates to safety culture and how operators and regulators should think about these effects in their day-to-day activities, with the goal to ensure safe nuclear operations. The second NEA safety culture forum – a collaborative effort between the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) and the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Finland (STUK) – was held in Finland in March 2019. This report outlines the process used to conduct the forum, reveals its findings and hopes to inspire the nuclear community to further reflect and take action.

A mature and well-guided multi-stage approach to the validation of nuclear power plant control room designs has the potential to reduce the risks involved in the design process. Such an approach can also increase the effectiveness of, and efficiencies in, the validation process, as well as overall confidence in the results. This relatively new concept of multi-stage validation has yet to be defined in the technical literature, and thus the report describes the approach and the rationale for validating systems through a series of successive, co-ordinated validation activities.
The scope of application of multi-scale validation addressed in the context of this report includes aspects related to both the human factors engineering of new nuclear power plant main control room designs and modifications to existing control room designs. The objective is to provide a common reference for future dialogue, research and development concerning the multi-stage validation approach, and ultimately to support the safe operation of nuclear power plants worldwide.

With almost 70% of the operating nuclear power reactors over 30 years of age, countries around the world are assessing whether to allow reactor operation past the 50 60 year mark and potentially up to 80 years. Ensuring a proper legal framework for the long term operation (LTO) of nuclear power reactors is a key component of such considerations.

The aim of this report is to provide insights into the various laws, regulations and policies that contribute to different countries' approaches to LTO. By collecting information from more than 20 NEA member and non member countries, this report highlights both commonalities among approaches as well as possible reasons for variations. Ultimately, the information gathered can serve as a vital resource for future exchanges respecting the legal aspects of LTO, with a view to further development and strengthening of the collective understanding of these issues.

This report explores the main reasons behind the unreliable supply of Technetium‑99m (Tc‑99m) in health‑care systems and policy options to address the issue. Tc‑99m is used in 85% of nuclear medicine diagnostic scans performed worldwide – around 30 million patient examinations every year. These scans allow diagnoses of diseases in many parts of the human body, including the skeleton, heart and circulatory system, and the brain. Medical isotopes are subject to radioactive decay and have to be delivered just‑in‑time through a complex supply chain. However, ageing production facilities and a lack of investment have made the supply of Tc‑99m unreliable. This report analyses the use and substitutability of Tc‑99m in health care, health‑care provider payment mechanisms for scans, and the structure of the supply chain. It concludes that the main reasons for unreliable supply are that production is not economically viable and that the structure of the supply chain prevents producers from charging prices that reflect the full costs of production and supply.

As the current nuclear workforce ages, concerns are arising over skills requirements and transferring knowledge to the new generation of experts and staff. A key issue is the loss of tacit knowledge accumulated by those who have long experience in the nuclear industry.
The best way to transfer knowledge to young people is to expose them to challenges through working on new projects, creating a continuity in the knowledge path.The management of critical knowledge concerns all sectors of the nuclear organisations (suppliers,
utilities, regulators and all levels of the nuclear workforce). There exists a need to maintain a critical mass of nuclear activities at the national level to retain knowledge without discontinuity.

Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Director-General William D. Magwood, IV sat down with Director-General Wanner and Chief Nuclear Officer Harrison during the NEA-IAEA-WANO Human Capital Workshop in June 2019 in Paris for a wide-ranging discussion regarding leadership and nuclear safety. The conversation touched on influencing behaviour, feedback culture, transparency, public communications, and the relationship between the regulator and operator.

Radioactive waste repositories are designed to be intrinsically safe in that they are not dependent on the presence or intervention of humans. In response to this challenge, the Nuclear Energy Agency initiated the Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) Across Generations Initiative, calling on the international community to help create specific means to preserve RK&M.
This report proposes and describes the concept of a Set of Essential Records (SER) as an important component of a RK&M preservation strategy. The SER is designed to be a compilation of actual records, selected because they would be required for future generations to understand the repository system and its performance, and to assist them in making informed decisions.
The guidance set forward in this document is complemented by appendices, illustrating an example procedure for the selection of records to form part of the SER.

The Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (CSBEP) was initiated in 1992 by the United States Department of Energy. The project quickly became an international effort as scientists from other interested countries became involved. The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) became an official activity of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in 1995. This handbook contains criticality safety benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments performed at critical facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by criticality safety engineers to validate calculation techniques used to establish minimum subcritical margins for operations with fissile material and to determine criticality alarm requirements and placement. Many of the specifications are also useful for nuclear data testing. Example calculations are presented; however, these do not constitute a validation of the codes or cross-section data.The evaluated criticality safety benchmark data in the 2019 edition are presented in nine volumes. These volumes span over 70 000 pages and contain 574 evaluations with benchmark specifications for 4 973 critical, near-critical or subcritical configurations, 45 criticality alarm placement/shielding configurations with multiple dose points for each, and 237 configurations which have been categorised as fundamental physics measurements that are relevant to criticality safety applications.New to the handbook are subcritical experiments with the Inherently Safe Subcritical Assembly (ISSA), carried out in the ISSA laboratory at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the United States. A photograph of the core tank exterior is shown on the handbook cover.The 2019 edition is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1787/110ba6fc-en.

The Nuclear Law Bulletin is a unique international publication for both professionals and academic
in the field of nuclear law. It provides readers with authoritative and comprehensive information on nuclear law developments. Published free online twice a year in both English and French, it features topical articles written by renowned legal experts, covers legislative developments worldwide and reports on relevant case law, bilateral and international agreements as well as regulatory activities of international organisations.
Feature articles and studies in this issue include “In search of the elusive conflict: The (in-)compatibility of the Treaties on the Non Proliferation and Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons”; “From Waste Confidence to Continued Storage: Legal theories supporting the US NRC’s licensing of nuclear facilities without a repository” and “New framework for radiation protection legislation in Germany”.

NEA News is the professional journal of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). It features articles on the latest nuclear energy issues concerning the economic and technical aspects of nuclear energy, nuclear safety and regulation, radioactive waste management, radiological protection, nuclear science and nuclear legislation. Each issue provides facts and opinions on nuclear energy, updates on NEA activities, a brief presentation of new NEA publications and other NEA news, along with links to NEA videos.

Topics covered in this issue of NEA News include: The true costs of decarbonisation; Sustaining multinational nuclear fuel and materials testing capacities for safety, industry and science; Knowledge management and the sustainability of the nuclear sector.

Under the Paris Agreement, OECD countries agreed to aim for a reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions sufficient to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre industrial levels. This commitment requires a massive effort to decarbonise energy and electricity generation, a radical restructuring of the electric power sector and the rapid deployment of large amounts of low-carbon generation technologies, in particular nuclear energy and renewable energies such as wind and solar PV.
This study assesses the costs of alternative low-carbon electricity systems capable of achieving strict carbon emission reductions consistent with the aims of the Paris Agreement. It analyses several deep decarbonisation scenarios to reach the same stringent carbon emission target but characterised by different shares of variable renewable technologies, hydroelectric power and nuclear energy.

Current knowledge of the nuclear physics of fuels and materials provides an understanding and simulation of the operations of nuclear reactors and other systems, both under ordinary and exceptional circumstances. As part of a broad spectrum of collaborative activities underpinning research in basic nuclear sciences, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is supporting collaboration between experimentalists,
theoreticians and modelling experts to advance the state of the art in nuclear data.
This report offers an overview of collective results from 31 institutions in 15 NEA member countries, along with results from technical experts in the People’s Republic of China, in the context of the NEA Collaborative International Evaluated Library Organisation (CIELO) Pilot Project. It reviews recent developments resulting from new measurements and semi-empirical models, as well as the validation of the CIELO nuclear data evaluations against suites of systems representing a wide range of current and future nuclear facilities. The CIELO project has delivered new, evaluated data for the isotopes of uranium, plutonium, iron, oxygen and hydrogen, which have been adopted in all nuclear data libraries released since the CIELO project was completed.

The central concept of NI2050, beyond technology development aspects, consists of building together, among truly interested parties, pipelines for testing, validation and qualification of technologies before these technologies become industrial products, ensuring that all stakeholders, in particular regulators, are involved from an early stage of the process. These pipelines have to be set up and themselves validated using a sample of the technology, selected together by all stakeholders. Once a pipeline is operational for a technology, industry may then use it for qualifying industry products, in a much more effective way than having to redo the full qualification process from scratch for each new product and for each separate country or market.

CSNI Technical Opinion Paper No. 17: Fire Probabilistic Safety Assessments for Nuclear
Power Plants: 2019 Update provides an authoritative review of the current status and
use of the fire PSA in nuclear power plants. The report demonstrates that while fires
at a particular plant site are highly dependent on plant and site specific factors, they
are nonetheless an important contributor to overall risk. Insights from fire PSAs are
generally found to be aligned with operating experience and to be representative of
the expected plant response, making them valuable in addressing risk. This report
should be useful for regulators overseeing the use of fire PSAs in nuclear installations,
practitioners in understanding the considerations for performing or reviewing fire PSAs,
and researchers in identifying areas requiring further study.

The nuclear sector has in recent years been placing increasing attention on the need to better
understand variations between cost estimates for the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, as well
as the relationship between estimated and actual costs, and the apparent escalation of these costs.
Building on previous work by the Nuclear Energy Agency, Cost Benchmarking for Nuclear Power Plant
Decommissioning examines approaches and methods for the benchmarking of nuclear power plant
decommissioning costs. Particular focus is given to identifying key factors, drivers and constraints to
implementing cost benchmarking. These factors are addressed from a broad range of perspectives in
order to develop a roadmap for implementation that will garner sufficiently broad support from a wide
base of interested stakeholders. The report also identifies a number of perceived barriers that may impede
the implementation of benchmarking for decommissioning. Co-ordinated efforts and further analysis will
be needed to help remove these barriers.

Radioactive waste repositories are designed to be intrinsically safe in that they are not
dependent on the presence or intervention of humans. In response to this challenge,
the Nuclear Energy Agency initiated the Preservation of Records, Knowledge and
Memory (RK&M) Across Generations Initiative, calling on the international community
to help create specific means to preserve RK&M.
The concept of a key information file (KIF) emerged in response to the challenge
presented by the large volumes of RK&M material generated by national disposal
programmes. This concept has been developed into an important component of a RK&M
preservation strategy. The KIF is designed to be a single, short document, produced in a
standard format, with the aim of allowing society to understand the nature and intent
of a repository, and thus to reduce the likelihood of unnecessary human intrusion. It
should be made openly available and ultimately be widely distributed.
This report describes the KIF concept in detail, in a manner that should enable those
concerned with any particular repository to create their own versions. Three draft
key information files, currently under development to support RK&M preservation in
France, Sweden and the United States, are provided as examples.

Electricity provision touches upon every facet of life in OECD and non-OECD countries alike, and choosing how this electricity is generated - whether from fossil fuels, nuclear energy or renewables - affects not only economic outcomes but individual and social well-being in the broader sense. Research on the overall costs of electricity is an ongoing effort, as only certain costs of electricity provision are perceived directly by producers and consumers. Other costs, such as the health impacts of air pollution, damage from climate change or the effects on the electricity system of small-scale variable production are not reflected in market prices and thus diminish well-being in unaccounted for ways.

Accounting for these social costs in order to establish the full costs of electricity provision is difficult, yet such costs are too important to be disregarded in the context of the energy transitions currently under way in OECD and NEA countries. This report draws on evidence from a large number of studies concerning the social costs of electricity and identifies proven instruments for internalising them so as to improve overall welfare.

The results outlined in the report should lead to new and more comprehensive research on the full costs of electricity, which in turn would allow policy makers and the public to make better informed decisions along the path towards fully sustainable electricity systems.

This 26th Annual Report of the International System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) Programme
presents the status of the Programme in 2016.
As of 31 December 2016, the ISOE programme included 74 participating utilities in 28 countries
(343 operating units; 53 shutdown units; 7 units under construction), as well as the regulatory
authorities in 26 countries. The ISOE database includes occupational exposure information for over
400 units, covering over 85% of the world’s operating commercial power reactors.
This report includes a global occupational exposure data and analysis collected and accomplished
in 2016, information on the programme events and achievements as well as principal events in
participating countries.

The Nuclear Law Bulletin is a unique international publication for both professionals and academics in the field of nuclear law. It provides readers with authoritative and comprehensive information on nuclear law developments. Published free online twice a year in both English and French, it features topical articles written by renowned legal experts, covers legislative developments worldwide and reports on relevant case law, bilateral and international agreements as well as regulatory activities of international organisations.
Feature articles and studies in this issue include: “The impact of the major nuclear power plant accidents on the international legal framework for nuclear power”; “Today is yesterday’s pupil: Reactor licence renewal in the United States”; and “Euratom competence in the areas of nuclear security and nuclear safety: An impossible parallel?”.

NEA News is the professional journal of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). It features articles on the latest nuclear energy issues concerning the economic and technical aspects of nuclear energy, nuclear safety and regulation, radioactive waste management, radiological protection, nuclear science and nuclear legislation. Each issue provides facts and opinions on nuclear energy, updates on NEA activities, a brief presentation of new NEA publications and other NEA news, along with links to NEA videos.

Topics covered in this issue of NEA News include: Perspectives on nuclear data activities at the Data Bank: Enhancing the validation function; An NEA State-of-the-Art Report on Accident-Tolerant Fuels; Country-Specific Safety Culture Forum in Sweden; 2018 NEA International Mentoring Workshops; NEA International Radiological Protection School (IRPS): Preparing tomorrow’s radiological protection leaders; and Nuclear Law Bulletin: 50 years of legal scholarship. This issue of NEA News also includes a guest editorial by Bernard Boullis, Advisor to France’s High Commissioner for Atomic Energy, on Science and Radioactive Waste Management.

A special thank you to the contributors to this edition of NEA News: Franco Michel-Sendis, Luca Fiorito, Michael Fleming, Kemal Pasamehmetoglu, Shannon Bragg-Sitton, Marie Moatti, Masaki Kurata, Davide Costa, Pascale Bourassa, Kamishan Martin, Yeonhee Hah, Tomoyuki Saito, Olvido Guzmán, Edward Lazo, Kimberly Nick and Bernard Boullis.

Under the Paris Agreement, OECD countries agreed to aim for a reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions sufficient to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2?C above pre industrial levels. This commitment requires a massive effort to decarbonise energy and electricity generation, a radical restructuring of the electric power sector and the rapid deployment of large amounts of low-carbon generation technologies, in particular nuclear energy and renewable energies such as wind and solar PV.
This study assesses the costs of alternative low-carbon electricity systems capable of achieving strict carbon emission reductions consistent with the aims of the Paris Agreement. It analyses several deep decarbonisation scenarios to reach the same stringent carbon emission target but characterised by different shares of variable renewable technologies, hydroelectric power and nuclear energy.

Under the Paris Agreement, OECD countries agreed to aim for a reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions sufficient to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre industrial levels. This commitment requires a massive effort to decarbonise energy and electricity generation, a radical restructuring of the electric power sector and the rapid deployment of large amounts of low-carbon generation technologies, in particular nuclear energy and renewable energies such as wind and solar PV.
This study assesses the costs of alternative low-carbon electricity systems capable of achieving strict carbon emission reductions consistent with the aims of the Paris Agreement. It analyses several deep decarbonisation scenarios to reach the same stringent carbon emission target but characterised by different shares of variable renewable technologies, hydroelectric power and nuclear energy.

Insights from Leaders in Nuclear Energy shares personal insights through a series of in-depth conversations between the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Director-General and leading figures in the sector. Each conversation explores the current issues and offers new ways to address challenges and aim for excellence.
In August 2018, NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, IV sat down with Toyoshi Fuketa, Chairman of the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), for a wide-ranging discussion regarding nuclear safety issues in Japan. The conversation touches on the Tokyo Electronic Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident, as well as ongoing challenges, Chairman Fuketa's perspective and insights and new directions for the NRA.

Safety remains the most important factor in managing radioactive waste and spent fuel resulting from the generation of nuclear energy. General consensus has emerged worldwide that deep geological repositories are the safest option for long-lived radioactive waste, and that constructing repositories is feasible using current technologies. However, until repositories become available, radioactive waste must be managed safely and securely so that the risks posed to human health and to the environment over the long timescales involved are minimised.

This report examines the predisposal phase of radioactive waste management programmes in NEA member countries for all types of waste from high-level to intermediate- and low-level waste, and spent fuel. It reviews regulations, policies, strategies and financial issues in member countries, as well as best practices both in terms of storage and transport. The report is primarily directed at decision makers with a technical knowledge of the subject.

The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Handbook contains criticality safety benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments that were performed at various critical facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by criticality and safety analysts as well as nuclear data evaluators to validate calculational techniques and data. The handbook is produced by the ICSBEP working group, under the aegis of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). While co-ordination and administration of the ICSBEP is undertaken by the NEA, each participating country is responsible for the administration, technical direction, and priorities of the project within their respective countries. Access to some of the information and data included in this handbook may be restricted; full conditions for access are available on the NEA website.
The 2018 edition contains data evaluated criticality safety benchmark data in nine volumes that span over 70 000 pages. The handbook contains 567 evaluations with benchmark specifications for 4 916 critical, near-critical or subcritical configurations, 45 criticality alarm placement/shielding configurations with multiple dose points for each, and 215 configurations that have been categorised as fundamental physics measurements that are relevant to criticality safety applications.

The International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Experiments contains reactor physics benchmark specifications that have been derived from experiments that were performed at various nuclear facilities around the world. The benchmark specifications are intended for use by reactor designers, safety analysts and nuclear data evaluators to validate calculational techniques and data. The handbook is a product of the International Reactor Physics Evaluation (IRPhE) project, conducted by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). While co-ordination and administration of the IRPhE project is undertaken by the NEA, each participating country is responsible for the administration, technical direction, and priorities of the project within their respective countries. Access to some of the information and data included in this handbook may be restricted; full conditions for access are available on the NEA website.
The 2018 edition contains data from 159 different experimental series that were performed at 54 different nuclear facilities. Some 156 of the 159 evaluations are published as approved benchmarks. The remaining five evaluations are published as draft documents only. All draft documents were reviewed by the International Reactor Physics Evaluation (IRPhE) Technical Review Group (TRG). Example calculations are presented; however, these calculations do not constitute validation or endorsement of the codes or cross section data. The IRPhE project is patterned after the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and is closely co-ordinated with the ICSBEP. Some benchmark data are applicable to both nuclear criticality safety and reactor physics technology. Some have already been evaluated and published by the ICSBEP, but have been extended to include other types of measurements besides the critical configuration.

Nuclear Energy Data is the Nuclear Energy Agency's annual compilation of statistics and country reports documenting nuclear power status in NEA member countries and in the OECD area. Information provided by governments includes statistics on total electricity produced by all sources and by nuclear power, fuel cycle capacities and requirements, and projections to 2035, where available. Country reports summarise energy policies, updates of the status in nuclear energy programmes and fuel cycle developments. In 2017, nuclear power continued to supply significant amounts of low-carbon baseload electricity, in a context of strong competition from low-cost fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. Governments committed to having nuclear power in the energy mix advanced plans for developing or increasing nuclear generating capacity, with the preparation of new build projects making progress in Finland, Hungary, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Further details on these and other developments are provided in the publication's numerous tables, graphs and country reports.

This publication contains "StatLinks". For each StatLink, the reader will find a URL which leads them to the corresponding spreadsheet.

Les Données sur l'énergie nucléaire, compilation annuelle de statistiques et de rapports nationaux preparée par l'Agence de l'OCDE pour l'energie nucleaire, presentent la situation de l'energie nucleaire dans les pays membres de l'AEN et dans la zone de l'OCDE. Les informations communiquees par les gouvernements comprennent des statistiques sur la production d'electricite totale et nucleaire, les capacites et les besoins du cycle du combustible et, lorsqu'elles sont disponibles, des projections jusqu'en 2035. Les rapports nationaux presentent brievement les politiques energetiques, la situation des programmes electronucleaires et ceux du cycle du combustible. En 2017, l'energie nucleaire a continue de fournir des quantites importantes d'electricite en base faiblement carbonee, et ce dans un contexte de forte concurrence avec les combustibles fossiles bon marche et les energies renouvelables. Les pays decides a inclure ou conserver le nucleaire dans leur bouquet energetique ont poursuivi leurs projets de deploiement ou d'augmentation de leur puissance nucleaire installee. Ainsi, des projets de construction progressent en Finlande, en Hongrie, au Royaume-Uni et en Turquie. De plus amples informations sur ces evolutions et d'autres developpements sont fournies dans les nombreux tableaux, graphiques et rapports nationaux que contient cet ouvrage.

Cette publication contient des < StatLinks >. Fonctionnant comme un lien internet, un StatLink fournit l'acces a la feuille de calcul correspondante.

Uranium is the raw material used to produce fuel for long-lived nuclear power facilities, necessary for the generation of significant amounts of baseload low-carbon electricity for decades to come. Although a valuable commodity, declining market prices for uranium in recent years, driven by uncertainties concerning the evolution in the use of nuclear power, have led to significant production cutbacks and the postponement of mine development plans in a number of countries and to some questions being raised about future uranium supply.

This 27th edition of the "Red Book", a recognised world reference on uranium jointly prepared by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), provides analyses and information from 41 producing and consuming countries in order to address these and other questions. The present edition provides the most recent review of world uranium market fundamentals and presents data on global uranium exploration, resources, production and reactor-related requirements. It offers updated information on established uranium production centres and mine development plans, as well as projections of nuclear generating capacity and reactor-related requirements through 2035, in order to address long-term uranium supply and demand issues.

National programmes for radioactive waste management require very large amounts of data and information across multiple and disparate disciplines. These programmes tend to run over a period of many decades resulting in a serious risk of data and information loss, which in turn can threaten the production and maintenance of robust safety cases.

Metadata and associated tools and techniques play a crucial role in modern data and information management. The Radioactive Waste Repository Metadata Management (RepMet) initiative has prepared the first international study on the application of metadata to the field of radioactive waste management. This report introduces the concept of metadata, explains how metadata can help to facilitate data management, and gives advice on the issues arising when developing metadata within radioactive waste management programmes. It is aimed at readers looking to obtain a highlevel overview of metadata, and associated tools and techniques, and the strategic importance they can play in Radioactive Waste Management Organisations (RWMOs).

Electricity provision touches upon every facet of life in OECD and non-OECD countries alike, and choosing how this electricity is generated ? whether from fossil fuels, nuclear energy or renewables ? affects not only economic outcomes but individual and social well-being in the broader sense. Research on the overall costs of electricity is an ongoing effort, as only certain costs of electricity provision are perceived directly by producers and consumers. Other costs, such as the health impacts of air pollution, damage from climate change or the effects on the electricity system of small-scale variable production are not reflected in market prices and thus diminish well-being in unaccounted for ways.

Accounting for these social costs in order to establish the full costs of electricity provision is difficult, yet such costs are too important to be disregarded in the context of the energy transitions currently under way in OECD and NEA countries. This report draws on evidence from a large number of studies concerning the social costs of electricity and identifies proven instruments for internalising them so as to improve overall welfare.

The results outlined in the report should lead to new and more comprehensive research on the full costs of electricity, which in turn would allow policy makers and the public to make better informed decisions along the path towards fully sustainable electricity systems.

The nuclear energy sector employs a considerable workforce around the world, and with nuclear power projected to grow in countries with increasing electricity demand, corresponding jobs in the nuclear power sector will also grow. Using the most available macroeconomic model to determine total employment – the "input/output" model – the Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency collaborated to measure direct, indirect and induced employment from the nuclear power sector in a national economy. The results indicate that direct employment during site preparation and construction of a single unit 1 000 megawatt-electric advanced light water reactor at any point in time for 10 years is approximately 1 200 professional and construction staff, or about 12 000 labour years. For 50 years of operation, approximately 600 administrative, operation and maintenance, and permanently contracted staff are employed annually, or about 30 000 labour years. For up to 10 years of decommissioning, about 500 people are employed annually, or around 5 000 labour years. Finally, over an approximate period of 40 years, close to 80 employees are managing nuclear waste, totalling around 3 000 labour years. A total of about 50 000 direct labour-years per gigawatt. Direct expenditures on these employees and equipment generate approximately the same number of indirect employment, or about 50 000 labour years; and direct and indirect expenditures generate about the same number of induced employment, or 100 000 labour years. Total employment in the nuclear power sector of a given national economy is therefore roughly 200 000 labour years over the life cycle of a gigawatt of nuclear generating capacity.

The NEA mentoring workshops are in line with the initiatives being undertaken by countries around the world to ensure that expertise is maintained in highly technical areas such as nuclear safety, radiological protection and other critical disciplines. Capacity-building efforts focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields need to be sustained and reinforced – particularly those aimed at young women, who are significantly under-represented in many areas. It is in this spirit that the NEA partnered with Japan’s National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) in 2017 to organise its first International Mentoring Workshop in Science and Engineering, on 25-26 July 2017 in Chiba, Japan. The success of this first workshop has led to the organisation of two additional workshops in 2018, both of which are introduced in this brochure – one in Tokyo, Japan, and the other in Ávila, Spain. These workshops are a clear manifestation of the NEA’s commitment to maintaining, and further strengthening, its momentum in encouraging a future generation of female leaders in science and engineering fields.

The Fifth International Nuclear Emergency Exercise (INEX-5) was developed in response to NEA member countries' desire to test and demonstrate the value of changes put in place following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. INEX-5 was held during 2015 and 2016, and was followed by the Fifth International Nuclear Emergency Exercise (INEX-5) Workshop in early 2017. Representatives from 22 member countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Commission attended the workshop, where participants identified elements emerging from INEX-5 that would help improve international and national arrangements for notification, communication and interfaces related to catastrophic events involving radiation or radiological materials.
The workshop was an interactive experience structured around invited presentations, moderated discussions and breakout groups that addressed the four broad topics of communication and information sharing with other countries and international partners; cross-border and international co-ordination of protective actions; mid- and long-term aspects of recovery; and connections with the work of other international organisations and networks. These proceedings provide a summary of the proposals and recommendations for future work in emergency management.

As part of a broader spectrum of collaborative activities underpinning nuclear materials research, the Nuclear Energy Agency is supporting worldwide efforts towards the development of advanced materials, including fuels for partitioning and transmutation purposes and accident-tolerant fuels (ATFs). This state-of-the-art report on ATFs results from the collective work of experts from 35 institutions in 14 NEA member countries, alongside invited technical experts from the People's Republic of China. It represents a shared and consensual position, based on expert judgment, concerning the scientific and technological knowledge related to ATFs. The report reviews available information on the most promising fuels and cladding concepts in terms of properties, experimental data and modelling results, as well as ongoing research and development activities. It also includes a description of illustrative accident scenarios that may be adopted to assess the potential performance enhancement of ATFs relative to the current standard fuel systems in accident conditions, a definition of the technology readiness levels applicable to ATFs, a survey of available modelling and simulation tools (fuel performance and severe accident analysis codes), and the experimental facilities available to support the development of ATF concepts. The information included in this report will be useful for national programmes and industrial stakeholders as an input to setting priorities, and helping them to choose the most appropriate technology based on their specific strategy, business case and deployment schedules.

One of the many important lessons learnt about nuclear safety over the years has been that
human aspects of nuclear safety are as important as any technical issue that may arise in
the course of nuclear operations. The international nuclear community can work together to
identify and address issues associated with components and systems and compare operational
experiences, but identifying how human behaviour affects safety and the best approaches to
examine this behaviour from country to country remains less common.
Practical experience has nevertheless shown that there are important differences in how people
work together and communicate across borders. People’s behaviours, attitudes and values
do not stop at the gate of a nuclear installation, and awareness of the systemic nature of
culture and its deeper aspects, such as the dynamics of how values and assumptions influence
behaviours, continues to evolve.
The NEA safety culture forum was created to gain a better understanding of how the national
context affects safety culture in a given country and how operators and regulators perceive
these effects in their day-to-day activities. The ultimate goal is to ensure safe nuclear operations.
The first NEA safety culture forum – a collaborative effort between the Nuclear Energy Agency
(NEA), the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) and the Swedish Radiation Safety
Authority (SSM) – was held in Sweden in early 2018. This report outlines the process used to
conduct the forum, reveals findings from the discussions and invites the nuclear community to
further reflect and take action.

The NEA has a long tradition of expertise in the area of nuclear emergency policy, planning, preparedness and management. Through its activities in this field, it offers member countries unbiased assistance on nuclear preparedness matters, with a view to facilitating improvements in nuclear emergency preparedness strategies and response at the international level. A central approach to this has been the preparation and conduct of the International Nuclear Emergency Exercise (INEX) series.
The Fifth International Nuclear Emergency Exercise (INEX-5) was developed specifically in response to member countries' desire to test and demonstrate the value of changes put in place following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. Exercise objectives focused on notification, communication and interfaces related to catastrophic events involving ionising radiation and/or radioactive material. The exercise was held during 2015 and 2016, with 22 countries participating in the exercise.
This report summarises the major evaluation outcomes of the national and regional exercises, policy level outcomes, recommendations and follow-up activities emerging from INEX-5 and the discussions at the INEX-5 International Workshop. A set of key needs were identified in areas such as real-time communication and information sharing among countries and international partners, improving cross-border and international co-ordination of protective measures and considering the mental health impacts on populations when implementing protective measures.

The present report is a follow up to this status report, documenting the results of a Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) exercise conducted by the NEA. This PIRT exercise identified SFP accident phenomena that are of high importance and yet are highly uncertain, thus highlighting their primary interest for further studies. The report recommends further support for existing experimental programmes and the establishment of a number of new programmes to focus, for example, on large-scale thermal-hydraulic experiments on the coolability of partly or completely uncovered spent-fuel assemblies and the investigation of spray cooling for uncovered spent-fuel assemblies in typical storage racks.

NEA News is the professional journal of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). It features articles on the latest nuclear energy issues concerning the economic and technical aspects of nuclear energy, nuclear safety and regulation, radioactive waste management and decommissioning, radiological protection, nuclear science and nuclear legislation. Each issue provides facts and opinions on nuclear energy, updates on NEA activities, a brief presentation of new NEA publications and other NEA news, along with links to NEA videos.

Topics covered in this issue of NEA News include: Fukushima reconstruction: Society, economy and community; The Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility: A new era in fuel safety research; The Full Costs of Electricity Provision: A new NEA report; Insights into the global uranium market; and Progress towards an all hazards approach to emergency preparedness and response. This edition of NEA News also includes the NEA Director General William D. Magwood, IV's opening remarks at the NEA 60th Anniversary High Level Session in April 2018.

A special thank you to the contributors to this edition of NEA News: David Broussard, David Chichester, Aleshia Duncan, Kentaro Funaki, Luminita Grancea, Olvido Guzman, Colby Jensen, Jan Horst Keppler, Edward Lazo, Vladimir Lebedev, Ichiro Otsuka, Daniel Wachs, Nicolas Woolstenhulme.

The Nuclear Law Bulletin is a unique international publication for both professionals and academics in
the field of nuclear law. It provides readers with authoritative and comprehensive information on nuclear
law developments. Published free online twice a year in both English and French, it features topical
articles written by renowned legal experts, covers legislative developments worldwide and reports on
relevant case law, bilateral and international agreements as well as regulatory activities of international
organisations.

Feature articles and studies in this issue include: "Legal challenges to the operation of nuclear reactors
in Japan"; "Inside nuclear baseball: Reflections on the development of the safety conventions"; and "The
Peaceful Nuclear Energy Programme in the United Arab Emirates: Background and history".

The transition from an operating nuclear facility to the decommissioning phase is critical in the life cycle of every facility. A number of organisational and technical modifications are needed in order for the facility to meet new objectives and requirements, and a certain number of activities must be initiated to support the transition and preparation for the dismantling of the facility. Thorough preparation and planning is key for the success of global decommissioning and dismantling projects, both to minimise delays and undue costs and to ensure a safe and efficient decommissioning process.
The aim of this report is to inform regulatory bodies, policy makers and planners about the relevant aspects and activities that should begin during the last years of operation and following the end of operation. Compiling lessons learnt from experiences and good practices in NEA member countries, the report supports the further optimisation of transition strategies, activities and measures that will ensure adequate preparation for decommissioning and dismantling.

For the past several decades, the Nuclear Energy Agency Salt Club has been supporting
and overseeing the characterisation of rock salt as a potential host rock for deep
geological repositories. This extensive evaluation of deep geological settings is aimed
at determining ? through a multidisciplinary approach ? whether specific sites are
suitable for radioactive waste disposal. Studying the microbiology of granite, basalt,
tuff, and clay formations in both Europe and the United States has been an important
part of this investigation, and much has been learnt about the potential influence
of microorganisms on repository performance, as well as about deep subsurface
microbiology in general. Some uncertainty remains, however, around the effects of
microorganisms on salt-based repository performance. Using available information
on the microbial ecology of hypersaline environments, the bioenergetics of survival
under high ionic strength conditions and studies related to repository microbiology,
this report summarises the potential role of microorganisms in salt-based radioactive
waste repositories.

Electricity provision touches upon every facet of life in OECD and non-OECD countries alike, and choosing how this electricity is generated - whether from fossil fuels, nuclear energy or renewables - affects not only economic outcomes but individual and social well-being in the broader sense. Research on the overall costs of electricity is an ongoing effort, as only certain costs of electricity provision are perceived directly by producers and consumers. Other costs, such as the health impacts of air pollution, damage from climate change or the effects on the electricity system of small-scale variable production are not reflected in market prices and thus diminish well-being in unaccounted for ways.

Accounting for these social costs in order to establish the full costs of electricity provision is difficult, yet such costs are too important to be disregarded in the context of the energy transitions currently under way in OECD and NEA countries. This report draws on evidence from a large number of studies concerning the social costs of electricity and identifies proven instruments for internalising them so as to improve overall welfare.

The results outlined in the report should lead to new and more comprehensive research on the full costs of electricity, which in turn would allow policy makers and the public to make better informed decisions along the path towards fully sustainable electricity systems.