2019 NEA
Annual Report

Nuclear Power in 2019
NEA Activities by Sector
General Information

2019 NEA
Annual Report

NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The NEA in Brief – 2019
Governing body:
The Steering Committee for Nuclear Energy

33

member countries (27 participating in the Data Bank)

61

years of international service

8

standing technical committees and 1 management board

74

working parties and expert groups

23

international joint projects funded by participants

3

Secretariat-serviced bodies

104

staff (officials, NEA and Data Bank combined)

11.5

million budget for the NEA in 2019,supplemented by voluntary contributions

3.3

million budget for the Data Bank in 2019,supplemented by voluntary contributions

49

publications produced in 2019

The NEA and its mission
The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is a semi-autonomous body within the framework of the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), located in the Paris area in France. The objective of the Agency is to assist its
member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technologicaland legal bases required for a safe, environmentally sound and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

2 | NEA Annual Report 2019

Table of Contents

Message from the Director-General

5

Nuclear Technology in 20196

NEA Activities by Sector		
Nuclear Development

21		
Nuclear Safety and Regulation

29

		
Human Aspects of Nuclear Safety

41		Radiological Protection

45

		Radioactive Waste Management

49	Decommissioning of Nuclear Installationsand Legacy Management 

52

		
Nuclear Science

55

		Data Bank

61

		
Legal Affairs

64	General Information
Information and Communication

69

		
Global relations

71		Organisational Structure of the NEA73

		
NEA Committee Structure in 2019

74

		
NEA Management Structure in 2019

75

		
NEA Publications and Brochures produced in 2019

76

3

Shutterstock, Angelina Bambina

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL

W

hile the COVID-19 crisis is an event of 2020, the world and the NEA are in the centre of thisunprecedented challenge at the time this Annual Report is being completed and issued.
Working effectively in the midst of a global pandemic is, as we are all learning, a matter of flexibility
and adaptation. It has been a very gratifying experience to share this time with the women andmen who work at the NEA. They have shown themselves to be a very flexible, adaptable, andextraordinarily dedicated group of people. They have learned to maneuver effectively throughthe unknown, the uncertain, and the never-before to continue our work on behalf of our member
countries. They have continued to do so despite some having fallen ill from the virus and others
having lost family members.
I also find great satisfaction in having worked with so many officials of our member countries
during the COVID-19 crisis, many of whom have continued to serve their nations just as they weretaking – as first priority – the steps necessary to protect the health of their families. That we all findthat keeping up this work to pave the way for a truly sustainable and environmentally responsibleenergy future, to develop human capacity in science and technology, to address challenges to theenvironment, and to assure excellence in nuclear safety and public heath, testifies to the importanceof all these issues to our societies.
The NEA was created as a framework for international co-operation and development and that
purpose resonates even more clearly when the interconnectedness of the world is demonstrated
so starkly. We must work together, through both individual and national actions across the world,
to see the current pandemic crisis concluded. Similarly, we must work collectively to enable newenergy technologies to be brought forward and used around the world, for safety to remain highand the public and workers to be protected, and to support economic growth, prosperity, andimprovements in the quality of life in both OECD countries and emerging economies without
sacrificing the global environment.
Another lesson we are learning in early 2020 is the absolute reliance modern economies place on
the reliability and resilience of the electricity system. We see this as millions connect through theInternet to telework and teleconference, as students engage in e-learning, and families watch movies
and programmes through streaming services. We also see first-hand that while oil has been at theforefront of policy and politics from the earliest days of the 20th century, the rise and fall of economies
in the 21st century will be decided by the reliability and resilience of their electricity systems.
Nuclear energy – which provides stable, reliable, secure, economic, and resilient electricity
generation in all weather conditions, 24 hours a day, 365 days each year – is providing a strong anchor
for electricity systems around the world. In support of these systems, regulators and operators are
implementing new ways to accomplish their work safely and effectively while minimising the riskof propagating the COVID-19 infection. The NEA is working with its members to enable exchangesof successful practices around the world and to share views on different regulatory approaches.
When the world moves on from COVID-19, yes – to use the popular cliché – there will be a “newnormal.” But we will also learn – as the nuclear sector always learns – from this experience to bestronger, safer, and more resilient in the future.

William D. Magwood, IV,
Director-General, Nuclear Energy Agency

5

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY IN 2019

Rosatom

Nuclear Technology in 2019

Russian floating nuclear power plant.

Developments in nuclear power
generation

the NPP to operate for another 30 years. Argentina isalso undergoing licensing procedures for the long-term
operation of Atucha I.

At the end of December 2019, 449 power reactors wereoperational worldwide, representing 399 gigawatts (GWe)of capacity. NEA member countries had 343 operating units,
representing 320 GWe, or 80% of total capacity worldwide.

Argentina is continuing negotiations with China for a loanof over USD 9 billion in order to move forward with theconstruction of the new 1 150 MWe Hualong One reactor
at Atucha planned to commence in 2020. Construction of
the CAREM-25 SMR – a modular 100 megawatt thermal(MWt) integral pressurised water reactor (PWR) – also
continued in 2019, with completion expected in 2022. The
RA-10 research reactor should be completed in 2020 andwill be used mainly for medical radioisotope production.

In 2019, 6 reactors, representing a total capacity of
5.2 GWe, were connected to the grid. Four of these reactors
are in NEA countries (Russian Federation and Korea), and theother two are in the People’s Republic of China. Meanwhile,
52 reactors are under construction, 20 of which are in NEA
countries. New construction projects began in China, Iran,
Russia and the United Kingdom in 2019, and together they will
represent 5.2 GWe of capacity once connected to the grid.
Russia remains active in the development of nuclear power
plants (NPPs), with five plants currently under construction
and two KLT40S small modular reactors (SMRs) on a floatingbarge (Akademik Lomonosov floating NPP) which havebeen connected to the grid and produced electricity on 19
December 2019. Their connection to the local heat grid isplanned to occur in 2020.
Key developments in nuclear energy generation in
NEA member countries during the year 2019 are highlighted
below:• Argentina completed the refurbishment of the Embalse

NPP, which was reconnected to the grid in January 2019,and by October 2019 it was operating at 100% capacity.
The refurbishment upgraded capacity by 6%, from 638
to 683 megawatt electrical (MWe), and it will allow

6 | NEA Annual Report 2019

• In August 2019, Australia’s House of Representatives

Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy
commenced an inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear
energy production in Australia. The committee considereda range of matters including waste management, healthand safety, environmental impacts, energy affordability
and reliability, economic feasibility and workforce
capability, security implications, community engagement
and national consensus. The committee findings andrecommendations were published in December 2019 in
the report Not without your approval: A way forward fornuclear technology in Australia. The Australian Nuclear
Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) Nuclear
Medicine facility received a regulatory licence to movetowards full production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) in
June 2019. Unfortunately, the facility experienced sometechnical problems shortly thereafter, and thus it continues
to produce Mo-99 only for the domestic market, not yet
having received regulatory approval to increase production
for export.

Nuclear power plant in Tihange,
Belgium.
Creative Commons,
Michielverbeek• Belgium’s security of electricity supply became aconcern in early November 2018, when only one out of
the country’s seven reactors (i.e. Doel 3) was generating
electricity (6 000 MWe in total) due to a maintenance andrepair programme. After the programme was completed,
all of the reactors were cleared to restart.
Tihange 1 and Doel 4 restarted on 12 November and
15 December 2018, respectively; Tihange 3 restarted in
January 2019; Doel 2 restarted on 4 February 2019 after
receiving authorisation from the nuclear regulator; Doel 1
restarted on 12 March 2019; and Tihange 2 was restarted
on 25 June 2019.
Belgium plans to shut down its seven operating nuclear
reactors – which produce about 50% of the country’s
electricity – by 2025, starting with the shutdown of
the first reactor in 2022. In 2015, when operation ofDoel 1 and 2 was extended for ten years, two Belgian
associations sought annulment of the decision since it
had been adopted without an environmental assessment
and without public participation. In July 2019, the Court ofJustice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the law
should have been subject to a mandatory EIA, includingtransboundary aspects, and public participation procedurein accordance with the EIA and Habitat directives.
However, the CJEU held that the effects of the law may
provisionally be maintained by the Belgian Constitutional
Court, in case of a genuine and serious threat of aninterruption to electricity supply and for an amount of timestrictly necessary in order to perform the required EIA andpublic participation procedure.

• Canada hosted the 10th Clean Energy Ministerial in May

2019, where a new nuclear campaign was launched under
the umbrella of the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy
Future (NICE Future) initiative. Co-led by Canada, Japan,
the United Kingdom and the United States, this campaign
is aimed at promoting highly flexible, next generation
nuclear technologies.
In July 2019, the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories launched
the Canadian Nuclear Research Initiative (CNRI) to
accelerate SMR deployment. In November 2019, four
projects were selected: Moltex Canada and the Universityof New Brunswick; Kairos Power; Ultra Safe Nuclear
Corporation (USNC); and Terrestrial Energy. Also in July,
the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) began
an environmental assessment at Chalk River for the Micro
Modular Reactor Project.
In August 2019, the CNSC and the United States Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) signed a memorandum of

co-operation to work collaboratively on the developmentof the regulatory infrastructure needed to share andevaluate advanced reactor and SMR designs.

• The Czech Republic confirmed in November 2019 the gov-

ernment’s aim to increase the nuclear share of electricity
generation to 40% by 2040. In July, the government gave
preliminary approval for Elektrárna Dukovany II to build
at least one new nuclear power unit. In November, it set
the following timeline for the project: a siting decision
would be taken by 2021, a contractor would be selectedby the end of 2022, construction would begin in 2029 andoperation in 2036. The government also acknowledged
the need for more reactors at the Temelín NPP to avoid
dependency on electricity imports, indicating that construction of new units would begin in 2030.

• The Clean Energy for all Europeans package waspublished by the European Commission (EC) in May
2018, introducing regulations linking the financing ofinvestments to environmental, social and governanceconsiderations. These regulations place a strongemphasis on “green finance” in support of economic
growth while contributing to the reduction of CO 2
emissions and other environmental impacts such as
resource and land use, as well as waste. In July 2018,
the EC established a European Union (EU) TechnicalExperts Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) to assist
in the development of a unified classification system forsustainable economic activities (i.e. the EU Taxonomy), an
EU green bond standard, methodologies for low-carbon
indices and metrics for climate-related disclosure. In
its June 2019 report, Financing a Sustainable European
Economy: Taxonomy Technical Report (EC, 2019), theTEG recognised the potential substantial contribution of
nuclear energy to climate mitigation objectives, as well as
the potential role of nuclear energy in low carbon energy
supply, but did not recommend the inclusion of nuclear
energy in the Taxonomy. However, the TEG recommends
that more extensive technical work be undertaken on
the “do-no-significant-harm” aspects of nuclear energy,
by a group with in-depth technical expertise in nuclear
life cycle technologies, as well as on the existing andpotential environmental impacts across all objectives.. In
September 2019, the EC decided not to exclude nuclear
projects from the sustainable finance classification
scheme, despite opposition from Germany, Austria,
Luxembourg, Greece and the European Parliament. In
November 2019, the European Investment Bank (EIB)
confirmed that it will continue to fund nuclear projects aspart of the new climate neutral strategy.

7Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant,
Unit 3, France.
EDF Médiathèque - Alexis Morin• In Finland, the government announced a new energy

policy with the objective of achieving carbon neutrality
by 2035. The policy would see a complete phase-out ofcoal-fuelled power plants by May 2029. The policy is also
supportive of operating lifetime extensions for existing
reactors, in addition to the commissioning of two new
nuclear power reactors.
In March 2019, the Finnish government granted an
operating licence to Olkiluoto 3. The plant is scheduled tostart commercial operation in June 2020.

• In France, Électricité de France (EDF) started hot functional

testing of Flamanville 3 EPR reactor in 2019. In June, theFrench Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) decided that all
the welds of the main steam lines several penetration
welds would have to be repaired prior to commissioning.
Locating and planning for the repair of these welds
resulted in further delays and cost overrunsan adjustmentof the schedule and cost, with commissioning fuel loading
now pushed back toplanned for 2022.
Given France’s objective to become a carbon-neutral
country by 2050, the authorities launched in parallel aprogramme of work with industry to address all issues
that need to be considered in order to make a decision on
a possible new build programme following the completionof Flamanville 3.
In September 2019, Électricité de France (EDF),
the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy
Commission (CEA), the Naval Group and TechnicAtome,
with the support of the French government, presented
the “NUWARD” TM project, comprising two 170 MWe
SMRs. Completion of the basic design is planned for 2025
and construction of the demonstration plant for 2030. A
collaborative programme with the Westinghouse Electriccompany was also announced in 2019.

• In Japan, the NRA approved plans for further tsunami

protection measures for units 6 and 7 at the KashiwazakiKariwa plant in May 2019.
In July, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings(TEPCO) stated that it had decided to decommission thefour reactors at the Fukushima Daini NPP.
In July, a consortium of Japanese utilities and reactor
vendors announced plans to build a new plant in Aomori.
In August, TEPCO, Chubu Electric Power Company,
Hitachi and Toshiba Corporation reached a basic
agreement to discuss potential collaboration for nuclear
energy business for boiling water reactors.
Tohoku Electric announced in November 2019 that it hadreceived a first green light from the Nuclear Regulation
Authority (NRA) to restart Onagawa 2, subject to a public
consultation period.

• In Korea, Shin Kori 4 reached its first criticality in April
2019 and was connected to the grid in August 2019.

• In Poland, the Ministry of Energy published its draftenergy policy in November 2019. This revised Polish
Energy Policy to 2040, or PEP 2040, was originallypublished in November 2018 and subsequently updated.
The document reaffirmed Poland’s plans to develop
6-9 GWe of nuclear energy as part of a diverse energy
portfolio, moving away from the country’s heavy
dependence on coal and imported gas. Poland’s first NPP– with an output of approximately 1 to 1.5 GW – could
come online in 2033, with another five reactors expected
to follow by 2043.

• In January 2019, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power
Company and Sargent & Lundy, a US engineering services
firm, signed an agreement to refurbish two CANDU unitsin Romania.

In August 2019, the French government announced that
the Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial
Demonstration (ASTRID) project would be brought to aclose by the end of 2019. In 2020, the government willdevelop a revised plan for research and developmentof generation IV reactors. The long-term objective toultimately close the nuclear fuel cycle was also reaffirmed,
and a programme will be launched to multirecycle mixed
oxide (MOX) fuel in pressurised water reactors.

In April 2019, a preliminary form of the investors agreement for units 3 and 4 at the Cernavodă NPP wasconcluded between China General Nuclear Power
Corporation (CGN) and CGN West Asia and Central andEastern Europe Investment (RO) CO.S.A., as well as the
Nuclearelectrica SA National Company. In January 2020,
the Romanian government indicated that it plans to exit
this agreement with CGN and that it is already looking for
a new partner for the project.

• In Hungary, preliminary work began in June 2019 for• In Russia, construction began in April at Kursk 2-2, a PWR-

the construction of the Paks 2 nuclear power plant. The
project includes two VVER-1200 nuclear power reactors.

8 | NEA Annual Report 2019

type reactor, with planned completion of construction
in 2023. Novovoronezh 2-2 reached its first criticality inNUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY IN 2019

March 2019 and was connected to the grid in May. Unit 3of the Kalinin NPP was officially approved for a lifetime
extension and for a power uprate in June 2019.
In June 2019, Akademik Lomonosov, the floating NPP,
received an operating licence for ten years. In September,it reached its final destination near the Siberian city of
Pevek, where it docked and was connected to the grid by
the end of 2019. Rosatom has confirmed its intention tocommission two other floating NPPs by 2027.

• Spain drafted its national energy and climate plan in

2019, which includes the phasing out of nuclear energy
by 2035. Nuclear energy currently provides around 20%of the country’s electricity. This measure was agreed by
the government, NPP operators and the decommissioning
and nuclear waste agency, Enresa.
Owners of Almaraz 1 and 2 also announced in 2019 thatthey would request a licence renewal to 2027 and 2028,
respectively. In addition, Vandellós 2 applied for a licenceextension to July 2030.

• In the United Kingdom, nuclear energy continues to receive
overall public support. The Hinkley Point C NPP continues
construction and the reactor base was completed in June
2019. In September 2019, EDF raised the estimated cost of
construction by GBP 1.9-2.9 billion (EUR 2.23‑3.4 billion),primarily due to ground conditions, taking the costestimate to GBP 21.5-22.5 billion (EUR 25.3-26.4 billion).
The construction schedule remains unchanged, withcompletion of the first unit expected in 2025.

A diagram of a NuScale small modular reactor (SMR).
Wikimedia Commons, NuScale

The United Kingdom is also supporting SMR projects inaccordance with its 2030 targets outlined in the 2018
Nuclear Sector Deal.
In November 2019, the government confirmed
GBP 18.0 million (EUR 21.2 million) of initial funds tosupport the development of an SMR by a consortium led
by Rolls Royce in the context of the Industrial Strategy
Challenge Fund. In July 2019, the UK government
launched a consultation on the viability of a regulated
asset base (RAB) financing model for new nuclear
projects. The government’s initial review concluded that
the RAB financing model has the potential to reduce thecost of raising private finance for new nuclear projects,
which would benefit both taxpayers and ratepayers.

• In the United States, several initiatives are taking placeat the state level to support the existing nuclear fleet. In
March, a draft law updating the Pennsylvania Alternative
Energy Portfolio Standards Act to include nuclear energy
was introduced to the state legislature.

In March 2019, Dominion Energy Inc. signed a tenyear contract with the state of Connecticut and two
utilities (Eversource Energy and Avangrid Inc.) to provide
9 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year with the two units of
its Millstone plant (198 MWe), allowing it to take part inzero emission energy auctions. The two units operating
at Millstone – units 2 and 3 – are licensed to operate until
2035 and 2045, respectively.
In April 2019, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities(NJBPU) awarded zero emission credits to the Salemand Hope Creek NPPs in the context of its Zero Emission
Credits Program. The zero emission credits programme isfunded by a 0.4 cents/kilowatt hour (kWh) tariff imposedon retail distribution customers. The bill requires plants tobe licensed to operate until at least 2030.
In July 2019, a bill creating the Ohio Clean Air Program wassigned into law. It establishes credits for certified clean
air resources, including nuclear plants, at USD 9/­M Wh(EUR 8.18/MWh).
At the national level, the United States continues tosupport advanced nuclear projects and SMRs through theIndustry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology
Development programme. The programme started
awarding funds in 2018, with about USD 195 million
awarded after six rounds of funding. In the last round,
three projects in three states received varying amounts
totalling approximately USD 15 million in funding.
Among non-NEA countries, the following developments
took place in 2019:• Brazil announced plans to resume the construction ofAngra 3 with the selection of a new international project
partner in 2020. Brazil’s National Energy Plan 2050 (PNE
2050) was made public at the end of the year and thecountry is considering the construction of new NPPs forbaseload generation. In the period 2020-2030, Brazil willconsider only existing technologies, although advanced
technologies such as generation IV reactors and SMRs
may be considered during the period from 2040 to 2050.

9NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY IN 2019

• The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s

Republic of China issued construction licences for
Zhangzhou units 1 and 2 on 9 October 2019. Zhangzhou 1
begun construction one week following receipt of thelicence. In June 2019, 2.6 GWe from two units, Taishan 2(EPR) and Yangjiang 6 (ACPR-1000), were connected to
the grid. In Shandong Province, following a few days oftrial operation, the demonstration district heating system
at Hayiang NPP was officially put into operation on
15 November. The system will initially heat 700 000 square
metres of housing during the winter months.

• India has ambitious goals for the deployment of nuclear

energy capacity. With seven reactors currently underconstruction (four pressurised heavy water reactors[PHWRs], two VVER-412 and one sodium fast reactor),
India has a combined capacity of 4.3 GWe. In January
2019, the government announced it plans to build 21 new
nuclear power reactors – including 10 indigenously
designed PHWRs – with a combined generating capacityof 15 700 MWe being put into operation by 2031.

• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is building four new

reactors, designed and led by the Korea Electric Power
Corporation (KEPCO) at the Barakah NPP. In September
2019, unit 1 was undergoing commissioning and testing,prior to regulatory review and receipt of an operating
licence. The UAE and Korea have signed a Memorandumof Understanding (MoU) to provide a general frameworkthat will explore potential opportunities for collaboration
to develop the “Barakah Model”, seeking opportunities in
new nuclear energy markets.

Developments in nuclear fuelsupplyUranium production slowed in recent years following
depressed market conditions. In Canada, mining at the
McArthur River mine and milling at Key Lake were suspendedin January 2018 and remained offline during 2019. In October
2019, Compagnie minière d’Akouta in Niger reported thaturanium reserves depletion at the Cominak mine would lead

Kakadu National Park,
Northern Territory, Australia,
where the Ranger mine is located.
Creative Commons,Thomas Schoch CC-BY-SA

10 | NEA Annual Report 2019

to the project’s shutdown in March 2021. Energy Resourcesof Australia (ERA) is also scheduled to cease production
at the Ranger uranium mine in 2021. ERA is finishing theprocessing of stockpiled low-grade ore at the Ranger
mill. The world’s largest producer, Kazakhstan, slowed its
expansion programme and plans to maintain 2020 and 2021
production levels of about 23 000 tonnes of uranium per
year (tU/y). On another note, the Husab project in Namibia,
launched in 2016, continued to increase its production. In
July 2019, the China National Uranium Corporation (CNUC)
concluded its acquisition of the Rössing uranium mine in
Namibia from Rio Tinto.
Uranium was produced in eight NEA member countries
in 2019, with Australia, Canada and Russia accounting for asignificant share of global production (about 30%).
In 2018, the two main uranium producers in the UnitedStates filed a petition with the US Department of Commerce
requesting an investigation into the effects of uranium
imports on US national security. Following the US Secretaryof Commerce’s investigation, in 2019, the US President
directed that a working group be established to develop
recommendations for reviving and expanding domestic
nuclear fuel production.
Major commercial uranium conversion facilities were in
operation in Canada, France and Russia in NEA countries. In
the United States, the Honeywell (Converdyn) commercial
plant in Metropolis, Illinois, continues to remain in idleready status. Converdyn has submitted an application fora 40-year operating licence extension. In October 2019,
the NRC published an Environmental Assessment and a
Finding of No Significant Impact approving the proposed
licence renewal. The new Philippe Coste uranium conversion
facility in France was completed and comprises two plants
in southern France, one at the Tricastin site and the otherat Malvesi. The conversion facility will be at its full nominal
capacity by the end of 2020. China also announced in 2019that it had significantly increased its uranium conversion
capacities, with plants currently located at Lanzhou andHengyang, respectively.

Nuclear safety and regulation

Diagram of nuclear waste andthe nuclear fuel cycle

NEA member countries continued their efforts to enhance
the robustness of nuclear installations and regulatory
frameworks in 2019.

Uranium
miningMill tailings

Fuel
production

Depleteduranium

New fuel
Liquid andgaseousradioactive waste

Power reactors

Productionof MOX/URE
fuel

Low level
waste
Separated fissiles(plutonium,
recycled uranium)

Waste fromdismantling

Spent fuelUnreprocessed
fuelWhile the initial lessons learnt from the accident at the
Fukushima Daiichi NPP have been addressed, the NEA andits member countries are pursuing medium-term research
activities to address safety knowledge gaps and support
timely decommissioning. These research activities will help
to expand the technical knowledge base of fuel and fission
product behaviour during a severe accident and to improveunderstanding of the various computer codes used for
accident analyses.
In the area of safety technology, a major focus in recent years
has been co-operative efforts to better understand the risks
associated with natural hazards and external events, such as
earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados and river flooding. In nuclear
regulation, member countries have been focusing on the vital
importance of developing and sustaining a strong safety culture
in both operating organisations and regulatory bodies.

Reprocessing

Used MOX

Technical support organisations and regulatory bodies
of NEA member countries have continued to expand theirknowledge in many important technical areas with co-operative research activities. Through international research,
further knowledge has been gained in severe accident phenomenology and thermal-hydraulics, computer codes andmodelling, fire propagation and fuel and materials properties.

Waste from
reprocessing• In Belgium, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control(FANC) authorised a restart of Doel units 1 and 2 reactors
after the operator (Electrabel) completed leak repairs toupper plenum injection piping.

• The CNSC and the NRC signed a Memorandum of

High-efficiency uranium centrifuge enrichment plants
continued commercial operations through 2019 in France,
Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom
and the United States. Poor market conditions have caused
enrichers to optimise their production capacities throughunderfeeding and re-enrichment of depleted uranium tails.
In the United States, development of the GE Hitachi laser
enrichment technology has slowed in recent years, reflecting
market conditions. In February 2019, Silex Systems Ltd
announced a positive step forward with the signature of a term
sheet with the Canadian company Cameco for the acquisitionof a majority stake in GE Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment
LLC. China is continuing to expand its centrifuge enrichment
capacity to satisfy domestic reactor requirements.
In other developments, all major global enrichment
producers (Orano, Rosatom and Urenco) are currently
considering enriching uranium to high-assay low-enricheduranium (HALEU) in support of the development of advanced
fuels. Centrus Energy Corporation announced in November
2019 that it had signed a three-year contract with the
US Department of Energy (DOE) to deploy a cascade ofcentrifuges so as to demonstrate production of HALEU fuelfor advanced reactors. In November 2019, Global Nuclear
Fuel and the X-Energy company signed a teaming agreement
for the purpose of developing HALEU Tri-Structural Isotropic(TRISO) fuel to potentially supply fuel to the US Departmentof Defense for micro reactors and to NASA for its nuclear
thermal propulsion requirements.

Co-operation (MOC) on advanced reactor and SMR
technologies. The MOC’s goals are to strengthen the
CNSC and NRC commitment to sharing best practices
and experience reviewing advanced reactor and SMR
technology designs. Co-operation on these reviews may
expand to facilitate a joint technical review of an advanced
reactor or SMR design.

• In Russia, the Rostechnadzor, Russia’s Federal

Environmental, Industrial, and Nuclear Supervision
Service, issued an operating licence for two reactors
onboard the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power
station. The two reactors are capable of producing a
combined 70 MWe or 300 MWth and their licences arevalid until 2029.

• In Switzerland, the licensee for the Mühleberg reactor

began permanent shutdown and decommissioning
activities. The decommissioning order issued by the
Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI)
contains 34 requirements related to the decommissioning
and dismantling process.

• In the United Kingdom, the Office for Nuclear Regulation(ONR) and the Environment Agency and Natural
Resources Wales (NRW) published new Generic Design
Assessment (GDA) guidance to be used for all future GDA
work, including work on SMRs. The new process draws
on lessons learnt from the old GDA process and seeks tomake several improvements including better integrationof safety and security requirements, enhanced flexibility,
greater emphasis on early engagement and agreementon scope, and enhanced use of existing documentation
prepared for overseas regulators.

11Instrumentation and control.
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL)• In the United States, the NRC completed its review of the
APR-1400 and issued a final design certification in August
2019. The design certification is valid for 15 years and is
the first one issued for a non-US applicant (KEPCO andKorea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. [KHNP]).
The NRC also completed its phase 4 review of the
NuScale SMR design on schedule. NuScale is a 60 MWepressurised water reactor that relies on passive safetysystems and simplified design features. It is the first SMR
to seek a design certification from the NRC. The review
is on schedule to be completed by the autumn of 2020.

Human aspects of nuclear safety
Addressing the human aspects of nuclear safety, includingorganisational factors and safety culture, is fundamental
for the safe operation of nuclear installations as well as forthe effectiveness of regulatory authorities. These aspects
also have an important impact on the potential future uses
and regulation of nuclear technology. The NEA assists its
member countries in their efforts to enhance focus andimprove the understanding and the technical basis fortreating these elements.
NEA member countries continued to implement
measures in relation to safety culture in 2019, reinforcing
their regulatory requirements and further developing their
guidelines and guidance documents. They also carried out
various activities to reach their public communication goals
and ensure human and organisational factors are addressed.
Here are some highlights.

• The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy

Commission (CEA) is designing a new crisis building
at the CEA Cadarache Centre, which will integrate
human and organisational factors. As CEA is required
to manage the competencies needed in crisis situations
and train its relevant crisis teams, it has defined the nontechnical competencies that must be strengthened inorder to manage a crisis – in particular a crisis in extreme
conditions. “Self-management skills” have been includedin the objectives of their current crisis management
training as has stress management and communication
for better collaboration.

• The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) developed avideo clip featuring a recent inspection by the ASN thataims to increase public understanding of its work.

• The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Finland(STUK) has begun implementation of risk-based oversight

12 | NEA Annual Report 2019of organisational factors. They are developing tools to look
into the most important issues of safety concerned withorganisational factors.

• The Man-Technology-Organisation (MTO) of the Institutefor Energy Technology (IFE) in Norway conducted a study
on Crew Decision Making with Degraded Information,
to look at how human performance is affected when
information is missing or degraded, as this is relatively
common and can increase in severe situations or during
cyber attacks. They are interested in what strategies
operators use to decide that indications are degraded,
under what conditions they fail to notice degraded
information, and how operators handle situations withdegraded information.

• The Swedish Nuclear Safety Authority (SSM) conducteda survey on public awareness of, confidence in, andperceived factors associated with the nuclear authority.
The results validated that consistent and targetedcommunication work is a basis for ensuring knowledge,building trust, and informing the decision-making process.
It also demonstrated that it is indispensable to analyse,plan, implement, and evaluate communication activities
repeatedly in order to maintain trust.

• The NRC and the CNSC are incorporating human factors
in their technical reviews of small modular reactors.

Radiological protection
For more than a decade, the NEA member countries havebeen accumulating practical experience of implementing the2007 Recommendations of the International Commission
on Radiological Protection (ICRP 103). Questions are now
being asked about the most appropriate way to interpretthese recommendations, which form the basis of theinternational system of radiological protection. Specifically,
understanding of what is meant by optimisation is becoming
more multidisciplinary. Engagement with stakeholders forregulatory changes or for preparing and implementing thedecision-making process in various situations has beenshown to be essential. However, a consensus view as to
how it should be understood, regulated and implemented has
yet to emerge. In addition to these structural issues, there is
growing concern that radiological protection is not attracting
enough new students and is rarely “career-oriented” throughprofessional vocation. Related to all of these issues is theneed to continue research to better understand the possible
effects of exposures to low-dose radiation.

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY IN 2019

A key objective of optimisation has for some time been toassure that exposures, and the number of people exposed,should be as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA), andtake into account social and economic factors. Althoughradiological protection experts are often asked to makerecommendations as to what protection solution will give
results that are ALARA, this is a multi-dimensional question
for which radiological protection considerations alone are
not sufficient. Other disciplines, such as social scienceand economics, are often needed to address prevailingcircumstances that can cause extremely complex situations.
Post-accident recovery is an example of this complexity.
Studies and programmes to prepare for such circumstances
are being increasingly implemented. In the United States,
the content of the Report No. 175, Decision Making for LatePhase Recovery from Major Nuclear or Radiological Incidents,
issued by the National Council on Radiation Protection andMeasurements (NCRP), has played an essential role in the
US national policy since 2017, when the optimisation process
for setting cleanup goals with stakeholders was established.
Examples in many countries demonstrate that stakeholder
involvement is critical to the success of recovery activities(e.g. setting cleanup goals, deciding on return criteria).
Approaches to engaging stakeholders who findthemselves in any type of circumstance involving ionisingradiation and possible exposures to the public, workers, orthe environment, also came to the fore in 2019. Engaging
with stakeholders to develop protection solutions forradiological situations is increasingly seen as being central
to achieving solutions that are agreed and sustainable.
Engagement to address many different situations – such as
the construction of nuclear installations, the managementof radioactive waste, decommissioning, etc. – will need to
be within a flexible legislative and regulatory framework,within which any type of situation can be addressed. The
stakeholder engagement framework will now need toaddress the roles and responsibilities of all involved, whileproviding guidance as to how engagement should be handled
under specific circumstances. Regulations and processes for
optimisation of post-accident recovery, with stakeholders,have for some time been addressed in France through theSteering Committee for Post-accident or Post-radiological
Emergency Recovery (CODIRPA) programme. Stakeholder
groups, including the public living in the vicinity of identified
installations at risk, local governmental officials, regulatory
authorities and TSOs, and other relevant organisations havebeen working together to understand possible risks andto build plans for short- and long-term response. Anotherexample is the National Radon Control Strategy launched in2014 by the Department of Communications, Climate Action
and Environment of Ireland, where a ten-year phase started
in 2019 to take into account stakeholder feedback on various
radon-related topics.
In both of the above situations, addressing optimisation or
stakeholder engagement, radiological protection (RP) experts
are needed. However, there remains the persistent belief(validated through surveys) that the broad RP expert community is getting smaller as today’s RP leaders retire. Noting
the gap in the education/experience pipeline that resulted
from both the Chernobyl and Fukushima NPP accidents, bothgovernment and industry remain concerned over finding suf-

ficient numbers of RP leaders. This issue will be addressed
through a special session planned for the 2020 International
Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) Congress.
Radiological science continues to advance, particularly
addressing the question of whether low-dose or low-dose-rate
ionising radiation can cause adverse effects, such as cancer or
non-cancer diseases. Radiobiology and epidemiology studies
continue globally, but could benefit from a greater level ofco-ordination and collaboration. Ongoing work in Europe,
through topical research platforms (e.g. MELODI for low doserisks, ALLIANCE for Radioecology, EURAMED for medical
application) are models for the global expansion of researchco-ordination efforts. Similar initiatives are also taking place inNorth America (IDEA initiative) and Japan (PLANET).

Radioactive waste management
NEA member countries continued to work on the safe
management of spent fuel and radioactive waste following
a holistic approach in 2019. With the objective of bringing
greater clarity to enhance confidence as well as to address
the risks associated with radioactive waste management
practices, the regulators, radioactive waste managers, andpolicy developers are increasingly recognising the importanceof transparency and public participation in the decisionmaking process. As the pursuit of geological disposal
solutions continues in NEA member countries, predisposal
management of radioactive waste including interim storageand management options of spent nuclear fuel are also being
discussed in many countries.
A brief summary of the national radioactive waste
management programmes is as follows:• In Argentina, the lifetime of the Embalse Nuclear Power

Plant has been extended for another 30 years until 2049.
The Argentinian National Law assigns responsibility
to the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA)
for radioactive waste management. Their low- andintermediate-level wastes (LILW), and used fuel fromresearch reactors are handled at CNEA’s Ezeiza facility.
Argentina plans to operate a repository for very low-level,
low-level and intermediate-level waste by 2030. Given
the lifetime extension of the nuclear power plant, theincreasing volume of radioactive waste will require newstorage facilities and in this context, specific guidelines
to ensure operational radiological safety and security.
Argentina has not stated its spent fuel policy and is aiming
to reach its decision on a DGR by 2030.

• In Australia, evaluation of the three sites currently being

considered as potential sites for a co-located disposal
facility for low-level waste (LLW) and a storage facility
for intermediate-level waste (ILW) continued in 2019. A
licence application to the Australian Radiation Protection
and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) is expected in
2020-2021. Currently, ILW and the returned reprocessed
waste are stored in the Interim Waste Store at Lucas
Heights until a national radioactive waste management
facility becomes available. The Australian Nuclear Scienceand Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is constructing a
new synroc facility to condition ILW and legacy acidic
waste arising from the production of Mo-99.

13

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY IN 2019

• In Belgium, the National Agency for Radioactive Waste

and Enriched Fissile Material (Ondraf/Niras) is currently
conducting a Strategic Environmental Assessment
including a transboundary effects assessment for its
high-level, long-lived radioactive waste including nonreprocessed spent fuel. In the Dessel application ofa surface disposal for short-lived LILW, Ondraf/Niras
revised the safety case in early 2019 addressing thecomments and concerns raised by the Federal Agency
for Nuclear Control (FANC).

• In Canada, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization(NWMO) continues its field investigations at the five sitesthat could potentially host a DGR. In 2019, to further
assess the geological suitability of siting a DGR for highlevel waste (HLW), the NWMO conducted two additional
borehole studies in the Ignace area while the CNSC
performed a technical review of the NWMO’s disposal
container design requirements. In developing a DGR for
LILW, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is developing amutual understanding with indigenous communities andseeking support from the local community, citizens andgovernment leaders for the construction of a LILW DGR.
In managing its historic federal waste, two long-term
radioactive waste management facilities developed under
the Port Hope Area Initiative are now in operation. In 2019,
Chalk River Laboratories carried out an environmental
assessment for a near-surface disposal facility for LLW
which is due to begin operations in 2023.

• In the Czech Republic, the Radioactive Waste Repository

Authority (SÚRAO), the responsible implementing
organisation, reduced the number of potential sites for
hosting a DGR from nine to four in 2019. The aim is tohave an eventual site selection in 2025, with an on-siteunderground research facility planned for 20302045. The
Czech government is also considering new legislation thatwill enhance public involvement in the developmental
process of DGRs.

• In Finland, the Expert Group in Nuclear Waste

Management (Posiva Oy), the DGR implementer,
continued to demonstrate the feasibility of the disposal
system in 2019, and was also preparing for casting theend-plug of the demonstration tunnel at the ONKALO
facility. Posiva plans to apply for the operating licenceof ONKALO in 2020 while the Finnish Radiation and
Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), continues to monitor
the construction and the development of an encapsulation
plant that is being built by the Swedish construction
and development company, Skanska, after having been
awarded a construction contract by Posiva in 2019.

• In France, the National Radioactive Waste Management

Agency (ANDRA) continues preparing the Construction
Licence Application (Demande d’autorisation deconstruction - DAC) and the Declaration of Public Utility
for the Industrial Centre for Geological Disposal’s(Cigéo) design without affecting the safety level of
the Cigéo repository. Preparation includes designand cost optimisations, safety assessment work andenvironmental assessment. Design work comprises the
reduction of the future radioactive waste reception andpreparation areas as well as evolutions of the HLW and

14 | NEA Annual Report 2019

ILW (long-lived) package disposal cells. With respect tostakeholder engagement in developing the Cigéo Project,
the High-Level Committee (CHN) engaged with various
stakeholders in March 2019, and announced a funding
extension to support the growth of the Meuse and Haute
Marne territory in 2020-2022.

• In Hungary, the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority(HAEA) issued the operating licence of the Spent FuelInterim Storage Facility (SFIFS), now with 24 vaults in Paks,
until 2030. With respect to DGR siting in Hungary, threeboreholes were drilled and hydrogeological, environmental
and seismotectonic studies continued in 2019.

• In Italy, the updated National Chart of Potentially Eligible

Sites (CNAPI) prepared by the Italian state-owned
company for the decommissioning and management ofradioactive waste (SOGIN) and submitted to the ItalianInstitute for Environmental Protection and Research(ISPRA) is awaiting publication. Once published, a national
discussion will be held to come to an agreement on thesiting of the national repository and storage facility. In
2019, it was decided that spent resins generated fromthe Caorso NPP would no longer be treated with urea
formaldehyde due to the resulting excessive corrosion.
A new thermal treatment process of spent resins will be
carried by a qualified Slovak operator.

• In Japan, further to the issuance of the Nationwide Mapof Scientific Features for Geological Disposal in 2017,
the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NUMO)
and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)
continued public dialogue to enhance understandingof the DGR project in various regions in 2019. In public
communications, METI emphasises its commitment
to advance R&D innovations and policy reforms inenhancing DGR safety. In late 2018, a Decommissioning
Implementation Policy was formulated to assist utilities in
preparing for future safe and efficient decommissioningof nuclear installations.

Presentation of a container for the storage of mediumlevel long-lived waste at the Meuse and Haute-Marne
underground research laboratory in Bure.

• In Korea, a review of the 2016 Master Plan is currently
under-way in the area of high-level waste management.

• In Norway, the state - owned radioactive waste

management and decommissioning agency, theNorwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND) which wasestablished in 2018 will be fully operational in 20202021. Since the current National Combined Disposal
and Storage Facility (KLDRA) for the disposal of LILW isreaching its capacity, NND is planning for a new storage
facility. In that regard, NND is planning to engage withlocal groups and non-governmental organisations toenhance social acceptance in siting of future storage sites.
Currently stored spent nuclear fuel at Kjeller and Halden
has suffered from corrosion due to water ingress into thestorage pits. Although ongoing environmental monitoring
confirmed that no radiological releases to the environment
has occurred, the storage area at Kjeller is being upgraded.
A national radioactive waste management strategy will be
developed in the near future.

• As outlined in the draft Energy Policy of Poland until 2040,

which includes plans to develop nuclear energy, geologicalrepositories are envisaged for future disposal of spent fueland radioactive waste. In 2019, site investigations for an
LILW disposal repository were being conducted at four
potential locations for hosting a disposal repository by
2027.

The storage canisters are made of steel and speciallydesigned to prevent spontaneous nuclear fission
during storage.
SKB, Sweden• In Slovenia, there are currently three operating nuclear(ANDR) has revised the national strategy on medium
and long-term safe management of spent fuel andradioactive waste in 2018. To enhance radioactive waste
characterisation, an ISO17025 qualified laboratory is
now performing both destructive and non-destructive
analyses of radioactive waste generated from Cernavodă
Nuclear Power Plant. In developing a near-surface
disposal repository for short-lived radioactive waste,
ANDR is collaborating with Constanţa County to assess
the suitability of the Saligny village in Constanţa County.

facilities: the Krško NPP, the TRIGA Mark II research
reactor and the Central Storage Facility in Brinje. LILW
generated from the Krško NPP is volume reduced andstored on-site. An LILW disposal facility with sufficient
capacity to accommodate all LILW waste from Krško
operation and decommissioning, as well as institutional
LILW in Slovenia is being planned for in Vrbina. As
the Krško NPP is co-owned by Slovenia and Croatia, acommon LILW disposal facility to be shared by the twocountries is under discussion. Spent fuel from Krško iscurrently stored in wet storage and has been planned to
be transferred to dry storage by 2021. With respect todecommissioning, the Krško NPP is envisaged to operate
until 2043 assuming successful safety reviews are granted
in 2023 and 2033, whereas a relatively small amount of
LILW (< 50 tons) is anticipated in the decommissioningof the TRIGA Mark II research reactor.

• In Russia, the development of disposal facilities for• In Spain, following the combined peer review by the• In the Slovak Republic, an Integrated Storage Facility• In Sweden, further to the Radiation Safety Authority’s• In Romania, the Nuclear and Radioactive Waste Agency

radioactive waste continued in 2019. In the Krasnoyarsk
region, pre-construction activities and site preparation for
the auxiliary surface facilities are ongoing. As for LLW
and ILW, the joint stock company Urals Electrochemical
Combine (JSC UECC) facility in the Sverdlovsk region has
completed the second phase of the design; the Federal
State Unitary Enterprise Production Association (FSUE
PA) Mayak in the Chelyabinsk region has also adopted
the design of the disposal buildings; the site survey ofthe external infrastructure is currently underway whereas
the JSC Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC) in the Tomsk
region continues its project planning and engineering
surveys of its infrastructure.
for Radioactive Waste (IS RAW) has been in operation
since December 2017 at the Bohunice site. The facility
was designed for temporary storage of treated and/or
solidified radioactive waste generated from NPPs anddecommissioning. A part of the National Repository forRadioactive Waste (NR RAW) in Mochovce, designed forthe final disposal of waste from the decommissioning of
the A1 NPP, is reaching its disposal capacity. The second
module for very low-level repository with a volume of
9 000 m3 is being constructed at present and the third
module with a volume of 39 000 m3 is also planned forin the future.

Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) andthe Integrated Review Service for Radioactive Wasteand Spent Fuel Management, Decommissioning andRemediation (ARTEMIS), the IRRS concluded that the
Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) should implement effective
regulatory requirements on safe decommissioning andclosure of nuclear facilities. Meanwhile the ARTEMIS
review reminded the Spanish government to avoid further
delays in developing interim storage and disposal for
spent fuel and HLW. As a result of the review, a key work
focus in Spain is to increase the interim storage capacity
at nuclear power plants while continuing to develop a final
disposal solution for HLW, spent fuel and long-lived LILW.
(SSM) recommendation to approve the Swedish Nuclear
Fuel and Waste Management Company’s (SKB) application
for a geological disposal repository for spent fuel, theLand and Environment Court concluded that SKB needs
to clarify the function of the copper canisters in relation to
the long-term safety of the repository before the proposed
activities are approved. The final decision now lies with
the Swedish government. As regards SKB’s applicationfor extending the Forsmark spent fuel repository for shortlived LILW, the SSM has completed its review of theapplication and is in the process of preparing a statement
to submit to the Swedish government.

15

Dry cask at Diablo Canyon Site.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC),
United States• In Switzerland, the National Cooperative for the Disposalof Radioactive Waste (Nagra) continued the geologicalstudies at the three sites, Jura Ost, Nördlich Lägern
and Zürich Nordost in 2019. A list of suggestions forcompleting the surface facility infrastructure will soon
be issued by Nagra including the details of access roads,
areas for auxiliary access facilities, ventilation shafts, etc.
Also in 2019, the Swiss government requested Nagra toconsider an external placement of the encapsulation plantfor LILW and HLW as well as studying the pros and consof a combined LILW and HLW repository. With respect todecommissioning, the Mühleberg NPP has been plannedfor permanent shutdown by the end of 2019. BKW FMB
Energie AG announced its decommissioning plan is to becompleted in 11 years. The first phase, which will involve
clearing out the turbine building, removing all reactor
pressure vessel internals and installing decontamination
facilities, will begin in early 2020.

• In the United Kingdom, the UK government published

Implementing Geological Disposal – Working with
Communities: An updated framework for the longterm management of higher activity radioactive
waste in December 2018. This document reiterates
the government’s overarching policy framework on
implementing geological disposal including the policy
for engaging with local authorities and communities to
identify a suitable site for a geological disposal facility.
The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) ceased
operations in November 2018 based on operational safety
and economic reasons. The THORP Receipt and Storage
Fuel Pond will be used for the storage of the remaining
and future spent fuel arising from the advanced gascooled reactor fleet. It is expected that the remaining
and future advanced gas-cooled reactor and pressurised
water reactor spent fuel will be stored until a decision
on a geological disposal facility is reached. Magnox
reprocessing at Sellafield is expected to be completed
by the end of 2020. With respect to decommissioning,
the UK government is examining legislative and nonlegislative options to amend the regulatory frameworkthat allows a decommissioning process to end once
nuclear safety and security matters are satisfied. The UK
government intends to introduce changes to legislation
when Parliamentary time allows.

• In the United States, the DOE continues to evaluate thefeasibility of direct disposal of the dual-purpose casks andthe research on high burn-up spent fuel in dry storage
cask project while the NRC continues its independent
technical investigations in revising a regulatory frameworkfor spent fuel disposal in 2019. In particular, the NRC is in
the process of preparing a regulatory basis for the disposalof greater-than-Class C (GTCC) waste. If the regulatory

16 | NEA Annual Report 2019basis concludes that GTCC waste is potentially suitable
for a disposal facility under Title 10, Part 61 of the Code ofFederal Regulations (CFR), the NRC would proceed withthe development of a new rule to include disposal criteria
for licensing the disposal of GTCC under 10 CFR Part 61. In
terms of decommissioning, among the 21 nuclear powerreactors that have been permanently shut down, 8 areundergoing active decommissioning while the remaining
13 will be safe-stored. The NRC expects nuclear powerreactor decommissioning activities to increase in the near
future and is ready to proceed with a new rulemaking
titled “Regulatory Improvements for Decommissioning
Power Reactors”. This rulemaking, if approved in 2021,
would facilitate the transition of power reactors from an
operational status to their permanently shutdown anddefueled condition.

Nuclear Decommissioning andLegacy Management
At the end of December 2019, there were 449 nuclear
power reactors operating; nearly 80% were in NEA member
countries. Over 178 reactors, including commercial powerreactors and experimental reactors, have been permanently
shut down; more than 90% are in NEA member countries.
Many nuclear power reactors, research reactors and fuelcycle facilities will reach the end of their operating lives or
be shut down in the next decade or so, resulting in a growing
demand for strategies and technologies in the area of nuclear
decommissioning. Significant progress continues to bemade on decommissioning and environmental remediation
projects across NEA countries. A brief summary of theongoing decommissioning efforts in the NEA countries in2019 follows below:• In Argentina, after submission of the corresponding

documents for issuing the Environmental Licence for theenvironmental remediation project at San Rafael Industrial
Mining Complex, the public hearing for the phase 1 washeld on 9 January 2019. Once the Environmental Licenceis issued, the phase 1 will deal with quarry water andsolid waste.

• In Canada, the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has

proposed the construction of a near-surface disposal facility at Chalk River Laboratories for the disposal of LLW.
CNL works with the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited(AECL) in managing their environmental, decommissioning and waste management liabilities. CNL is also
responsible for managing all legacy wastes and historic
LLW. The in situ decommissioning of the Nuclear Power
Demonstration facility in Ontario and the Whiteshell
Research Reactor in Manitoba is being proposed by

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY IN 2019

CNL. The Gentilly-2 reactor, a more modern CANDU 6
type, was shut down at the end of 2012 after 30 years ofoperation. The decommissioning licence, issued in 2016,is valid until 2026. The main part of the reactor will beclosed up and will remain dormant for 40 years to allow
radioactivity to decay before demolition. All 27 000 fuelbundles are expected to be in dry storage (Macstor) by
2020. The decommissioning cost is put at CAD 1.8 billion(EUR 1.23 billion) over 50 years.

• In France, as specified by the law, the decommissioning

and waste treatment policy is to follow an immediate
dismantling strategy. The strategies for the packaging of
the historical waste of French Alternative Energies andAtomic Energy Commission (CEA) and Orano, where thedelays are also particularly detrimental to the safety ofthe sites concerned, submitted by these two licensees
in June and December 2016 respectively have undergone
in-depth examination by the Institute for Radiologicalprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). The Nuclear Safety
Authority (ASN) reviewed the financial governance andhuman resources constraints faced by CEA to conduct
decommissioning projects. Based upon an IRSN review
report, ASN took a position on the CEA decommissioning
strategy robustness, including the proposal made to
define planning priorities for each facility. The planningpriorities take into account safety factors such as theavailability of support equipment (waste treatment
facilities, nuclear transport packages) or the priorities
required by safety factors (e.g. radiological inventory,
source term in accidental situations, close by urban areas).

• In Finland, the Radiation and Nuclear Authority (STUK),

the Finnish regulator, is overseeing the decommissioning
and dismantling of the FiR TRIGA Mark II research reactor,
the first reactor to be decommissioned in the country. The
research reactor is managed by the Technical ResearchCentre of Finland Ltd (VTT) who signed a letter of intent
with Fortum on collaboration in decommissioning andinterim storage of decommissioning waste. Fortum
prepared conceptual plans on interim storage for VTT.

• In Germany, Energiewerke Nord GmbH (EWN) is wholly

owned by the German government and is responsible forthe decommissioning of publicly-owned nuclear facilities
and for managing the resulting radioactive wastes. In
addition to decommissioning the Greifswald NPP and
the Rheinsberg experimental reactor in eastern Germany
following the country’s reunification, EWN is also involved
in decommissioning the AVR reactor, which is adjacentto the research centre at Jülich. Seven NPPs are still in
operation and will be shut down on a step-by-step basisby the end of the 2022 at the latest; five of them havealready applied for decommissioning. Decommissioning
the currently operating reactors is expected to produce
some 115 000 cubic metres of decommissioning wastes.

• In Italy, all four NPPs were permanently shut down.

Activities related to the decommissioning and dismantling
have been authorised and some are under implementation.

• In Korea, Kori 1, the first Korean commercial reactor
started its operation in April 1978 with a design life of
30 years and was re-licenced to extend its operation
for another 10 years in 2007. It was permanently shut

down in June 2017, and steps are being taken for its
decommissioning. The decommissioning strategy for
Kori 1 has been an immediate decommissioning. Since
the permanent shutdown of Kori 1, KHNP has been
preparing its final decommissioning plan for the approvalof decommissioning by the Nuclear Safety and Security
Commission (NSSC) to start the decommissioning. KHNP
also announced in June 2018 the decision for an early
shutdown of Wolsong 1. Wolsong 1, a pressurised heavy
water reactor, started its operation in 1983 and was
relicensed to extend its operation for an additional ten
years to 2022. The application for an operating licenceamendment for the permanent shutdown was submitted
to the NSSC in February 2019.

• In Romania, the proposed conceptual decommissioning

plan for Cernavodă NPP units 1 and 2 is planned tobe submitted to the National Commission for Nuclear
Activities Control (CNCAN), the national nuclear regulatory
authority. The decommissioning plan will be in accordancewith the new issued CNCAN Order No. 115/2017:
Safety Regulation on decommissioning of nuclear andradiological installations. There is only one nuclear facility
under decommissioning in Romania, namely the VVR-S
research reactor of the Horia Hulubei National Institute ofPhysics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH) in Măgurele.
The reactor was shut down in 1997, and was under aconservation licence until 2010. Since December 2010, it
is under a decommissioning licence. The VVR-S research
reactor is under the phase 3 of decommissioning. The
revised version of the detailed decommissioning plan forphase 3 was submitted to CNCAN.

• In Russia, unit 1 of the Bilibino NPP was shut down in

May 2018. The fuel has been removed from the reactor
core and a licence for operation without power generation
was obtained in January 2019. In December 2018,
unit 1 of the Leningrad NPP was finally shut down fordecommissioning. The fuel removal from the reactor core
is expected to be finished by the end of 2021. A licencefor operation without power generation was obtained in
January 2019. Large-scale decommissioning efforts were
implemented at 24 sites.

• In the Slovak Republic, the decommissioning programme

consists of two ongoing decommissioning projects, both
located at the Bohunice site, namely the decommissioningof the A1 NPP, a heavy water gas-cooled reactor, shut
down in 1977 after a primary coolant system integrity
accident with local damage of the fuel, and thedecommissioning of two V1 units of VVER-440 reactors
shut down in accordance with government Resolutions in2006 and 2008 respectively. Decommissioning activities
are generally financed by provisions in the nuclear fundact. Decommissioning of the A1 NPP is fully funded bythis Act. Some projects related to decommissioning of
the V1 NPP are co-financed by the Bohunice International
Decommissioning Support Fund. The update of the
Nuclear Fund Act came into effect on 1 January 2019.
The update takes into account the provisions of the
National Policy and National Programme on State Liability
for decommissioning and long-term storage and disposalof spent fuel and responsibility for radioactive waste
management.

17

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY IN 2019

• In Slovenia, remediation work at the Boršt waste disposal
site, the former Žirovski Vrh uranium mine, is ongoing.
Pursuant to the Slovenian legislation and internationallyrecognised standards, it is the owner or the operator of
the facility who is responsible for the decommissioningof nuclear and radiation facilities. In accordance with the
Ionising Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act andimplementing regulations, the operator or the owner isalso obliged to ensure an appropriate programme forfacility decommissioning.

• In Spain, the decommissioning of José Cabrera (Zorita)

entered its final stages. Tasks including the cleaning of walls
and reinforced concrete structures to prepare them for the
final conventional demolition are in progress. The washingand sorting out of contaminated soils is completed. The
best estimations are that all decommissioning work could
be completed by the end of 2020. Vandellós 1 remainedin safe store mode in 2019. The pre-dismantling of the
Santa María de Garoña 460 MWe boiling water reactor(BWR) is being conducted by the plant operator while the
National Radioactive Waste Company, Enresa, preparesfor its planned, future decommissioning.

• In Sweden, the dismantling of the Agesta PHWR isplanned for 2020. A new storage building for lowand intermediate-level decommissioning waste is
being prepared at the Studsvik site to accommodate
decommissioning waste from these dismantling projects.
Nuclear plant licensees are preparing for the shutdownof Ringhals unit 1 scheduled for 2020 following theclosure of Ringhals 2 in December 2019. A total of sevenreactors are scheduled for decommissioning in the years
to come. The two BWRs at Barsebäck are being partiallysegmented and are anticipated to reach their free release
end-state by 2030. Both Oskarshamn units 1 and 2 havebeen defueled; dismantling of the reactor internals isunderway. At Ringhals, decommissioning planning forunits 1 and 2 has already begun. In addition, the licensing
documents are being prepared in order to get the needed
decommissioning licence for the remaining dismantlingand demolition activities. It is intended that the projectwill reach its first final end-state during 2030, with freerelease of the majority of the site. An interim storage
facility in a smaller part of the site might be in operation
until a final repository for long-lived radioactive waste isavailable around 2045.

• In Switzerland, the decommissioning plan for thecommercial nuclear power plant of Mühleberg has been
approved by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).
The German company BKW intends to proceed withimmediate decommissioning of Mühleberg BWR after it
was shut down in 2019.

• In the United Kingdom, the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority (NDA), owner of the Sellafield site since 2016,has estimated that it will take 20-25 years to complete
the clean-up of the site. A 350-tonne machine has been
installed to retrieve radioactive waste out of the storagesilo, which will then be packed into nuclear skips while
awaiting final disposal in the UK’s geological disposal
facility. The clean-up of nuclear legacy sites is estimatedto cost GBP 117 billion over 120 years. In February 2019,it was announced that work has commenced on the
demolition of the second Windscale Pile Chimney, withthe first blocks of concrete removed from the top of the
125 metre tower, the scene of Britain’s worst nuclear
accident in 1957.

• In the United States, clean-up work at the Plutonium

Finishing Plant in Hanford, Washington, and building
demolition and waste disposal at Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
as well as at other DOE sites (e.g. Savannah River),continued in 2019. The NRC is overseeing 21 permanently
shutdown power reactor units in various stages ofdecommissioning. Eight of the permanently shutdown
power reactors are undergoing active decommissioning(DECON1) and 13 have elected to defer decommissioning(SAFSTOR 2 ). Permanently shut down reactors have
60 years to complete decommissioning, in accordancewith Federal Regulation 10 CFR 50.82(a)(3). The eight
power reactors in DECON are: Vermont Yankee, San
Onofre 2 and 3, Zion 1 and 2, Nuclear Ship Savannah,
LaCrosse, and Humboldt Bay. The sale and licence transfer
of Vermont Yankee to a non-utility private company wascompleted in January 2019. Decommissioning at Zion 1
and 2 and Humboldt Bay is estimated to be completed
by the end of 2019. LaCrosse is in the final stages ofdecommissioning and is estimated to be completed by
the end of 2020. Additionally, the remaining 13 powerreactors are in a SAFSTOR status: Dresden 1; Fermi 1;
GE Vallecitos BWR; GE Vallecitos – ESADA-Vallecitos
Experimental Superheat Reactor (EVESR); Indian Point 1;
Fort Calhoun; Millstone 1; Oyster Creek; Peach Bottom 1;
San Onofre 1; Three Mile Island 2; Crystal River 3; andKewaunee. Twelve additional reactors have indicated thatthey will permanently shut down: Duane Arnold, Pilgrim
and Three Mile Island in 2019; Davis Besse and Indian
Point 2 in 2020; Perry, Indian Point 3, Beaver Valley 1,
and Beaver Valley 2 in 2021; Palisades in 2022; and Diablo
Canyon when its licences expire for unit 1 in 2024 andunit 2 in 2025.

Nuclear science and technology
Over the course of 2019, ongoing needs in experimental
infrastructure, new research tools and co-ordination to
improve research efficiency have been highlighted in national
research programmes.
Materials science has continued to play a central role inextending the life of existing nuclear reactors; in deploying

1. A method of decommissioning in which structures, systems, and components that contain radioactive contamination are
removed from a site and safely disposed of at commercially operated low-level waste disposal facility.
2. A method of decommissioning in which a nuclear facility is placed and maintained in a condition that allows the facility
to be safely stored and subsequently decontaminated.

18 | NEA Annual Report 2019

The Chi-Nu detector array formeasuring prompt fission neutron
spectra.
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

new, modern light water reactors, advanced reactors
and small modular reactors; and in storing, recycling anddisposing of used nuclear fuel. Materials design optimisation
is a cornerstone of the nuclear industry that is ripe forinnovation. Additive manufacturing (AM) – coupled withadvances in computational materials science – represents
an opportunity for breakthrough progress in nuclear
component development and fabrication. On the one
hand, AM offers increased flexibility in the supply chain,enabling on-demand production of geometrically complex
components; while on the other hand, allowing for rapid
prototyping, and thus maximising the potential benefit arisingfrom advanced materials design, which is based increasingly
on machine learning algorithms. These algorithms allow
for the development of data-driven predictive models anddesign rules to address specific needs in terms of materials
properties and behaviour. The industry has already started
implementing AM for nuclear applications by initiating
R&D programmes in this field. Given this rapidly evolving
technological landscape, stakeholders are facing multiple
challenges. Regulators in particular will need to respondby developing an appropriate framework to license AM
components, and R&D organisations will need to pursue thecollection of extensive materials datasets to support materials
modelling and design, and the development of adapted
qualification processes. These would include advanced
microstructural characterisation, especially consideringthat several AM techniques exist and that the behaviour of
AM materials under challenging, harsh environments is still
relatively unknown.
Studies dedicated to the performance and reliabilityof nuclear fuel have remained a high priority in research
portfolios. While the industry is moving towards the
final stages of the development of accident-tolerant fuelconcepts – with irradiation programmes ongoing in fuels andmaterials test reactors and lead test assembly being loadedin commercial reactors – experimental studies investigating
the behaviour of accident-tolerant fuel materials in severe
accident conditions remain rare. A number of open questions
have to be addressed concerning the impact these materials
may have on corium behaviour, the molten core-concreteinteraction in the ex-vessel phase of a severe accident andthe source term evaluation. Such studies should address both
separate effects tests and integral or semi-integral tests, andresult in the improvement and validation of analytical tools(such as thermodynamic databases) and integral tools (suchas severe accident analysis code). Considering the varietyof cases arising from different combinations of cladding,pellets and control rod concepts, the problem, as seen fromthe materials science perspective, is sizeable and calls for aco-ordinated international effort to be implemented in orderto guarantee substantial improvement of current knowledge.
As the European Union (EU) rolls out its sustainablefinance taxonomy, which is aimed towards meeting its Paris
agreement commitments, the potential of nuclear energy
driving a low-carbon economy is being highlighted. At
the same time, long-term management of HLW has been
noted as an inhibitor to sustainability, as well as a politicallysensitive topic for nuclear energy. Nuclear science has beenworking on solutions to close the fuel cycle, through activities
in advanced nuclear systems and the analysis of MOX, as
well as through fuel reprocessing chemistry activities. One
option to close the fuel cycle has been to deploy sodium fast
reactors (SFRs) that burn long-lived actinides. In view of theeconomic stakes and the technical realities of the moment,
France ended the Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor
for Industrial Demonstration (ASTRID) project in 2019, while
launching a revised research and development programmeon fast neutron reactors from 2020. China (the China
Experimental Fast Reactor – CEFR), India (the Prototype
Fast Breeder Reactor – PFBR), Russia (the BN-800 and
BN-1200) and the United States (the Versatile Test Reactor –VTR) proceed with their own SFR construction projects. The
latter is being designed for performing irradiation testingat much higher neutron energy fluxes, which will help
accelerate the testing of advanced nuclear fuels, materials,
instrumentation and sensors. The VTR could be completed
as early as 2026 at the site of one of the US Department ofEnergy’s national laboratories. At the same time, countries
continue to seriously explore other options that will potentiallymitigate HLW. Systems such as the Multi-purpose Hybrid
Research Reactor for High-tech Applications (MYRRHA),an accelerator-driven system in Belgium, and numerous
molten salt reactor designs elsewhere have significant
potential to manage HLW. The MYRRHA project is firmly on
track. On 29 November 2019, the Proton Target Facility of
the Multi-purpose Hybrid Research Reactor for High-Tech
Applications Isotope Separation Online (MYRRHA ISOL)
reached its first milestone with the successful integrity testof its target container.
These systems can benefit from the detailed analysis ofexperimental data to support designs, and from qualified
modelling and simulation tools to predict both steady state
and transient operation. With this in mind, the NEAhas
redoubled its efforts to make legacy experimental data
accessible so that its member countries can leveragedata and lessons from past experimental campaigns – analternative to building costly experimental installations inorder to relearn lessons from the past.

19

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY IN 2019

Nuclear law
Sound national and international legal frameworks are
essential to the safe and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
The development of the legal frameworks started fromthe very beginning of the nuclear power industry, withthe original conventions on non-proliferation, radiologicalprotection and nuclear third party liability being adopted
in the 1960s. During the 1970s, when the major nuclear
programmes were continuing their fast development mainly
in Canada, Europe, Japan, the Soviet Union and the UnitedStates, focus was put on non-proliferation and the need toregulate nuclear trade. The lessons learnt from the 1979
Three Mile Island and 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accidents,that respectively took place in the United States and in
the Soviet Union, gave impetus to a new and importantmomentum to enhance the international legal framework
and a series of international conventions were adopted
in the 1980-1990s in the field of nuclear safety, safety ofspent nuclear fuel, radioactive waste management andpublic participation, while the nuclear liability regimes weremodernised. In addition, it should be noted that several
general international environmental law conventions werealso adopted that also apply to nuclear activities. The
Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment
in a Transboundary Context and the Aarhus Convention
on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision
making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters,for example, provide for procedural requirements that shallbe fulfilled prior to countries taking certain decisions on
nuclear energy-related activities. Activities under those
two conventions are currently focusing on determining
the requirements to perform transboundary environmental
impact assessments and public participation procedures in
the context of decisions related to the long-term operation of
nuclear power plants. After the terrorist attacks of September
2001, the international community concentrated on thereinforcement of the legal framework against terrorism.
All treaties and conventions related to nuclear energy areavailable here with links to relevant articles related to eachtreaty and convention published in the Nuclear Law Bulletin:www.oecd-nea.org/law/multilateral-agreements.
Notwithstanding the best efforts to ensure high levelsof nuclear safety, the possibility remains that an accident
may occur in a nuclear installation, i.e. not only at nuclear
power plants but also at other types of nuclear installations,such as those storing radioactive products or waste, or
during the transport of nuclear substances to and from anuclear installation.
A wide consensus exists on the importance of providing nuclear liability regimes, which address the concernsof all countries that might be affected by a nuclear accident, in order to provide adequate compensation for nuclear
damage. To date, 27 out of the 33 NEA member countries
have adhered to one or more of the international nuclear
liability conventions – i.e. the Paris Convention on Third
Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, the Vienna
Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and theConvention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear
Damage (CSC); and some to the Joint Protocol Relating
to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris

20 | NEA Annual Report 2019

Convention (the “Joint Protocol”). The trend since the
Fukushima Daiichi accident has been for countries, especially newcomer or potential newcomer countries, to adhere
to at least one of the enhanced conventions – i.e. the Paris
Convention as amended by the 2004 Protocol (the “Revised
Paris Convention”, not yet in force), the Vienna Convention
as amended by the 1997 Protocol (the “Revised Vienna
Convention”) and the CSC. However, in 2019, Rwanda
acceded to the Vienna Convention. Following in the pathof Romania and the United Arab Emirates, Benin andMontenegro opted to join the Revised Vienna Convention,
the CSC and the Joint Protocol and to therefore have treaty
relations with almost all countries parties to a nuclear liability
convention.
The purpose of the enhanced nuclear third party liability
regimes (i.e. the Revised Paris Convention, the Revised
Vienna Convention and the CSC) is to provide better
protection to potential victims by, among other, increasing
the nuclear liability amounts and allowing States to opt forunlimited liability. They also provide for a broader range of
nuclear damage to be compensated: in addition to personal
injury and property damage, these conventions include
certain types of economic loss, the cost of measures toreinstate a significantly impaired environment, loss of income
resulting from the impaired environment and the cost of
preventive measures.
NEA member countries that have signed the 2004
Protocols to amend the Paris Convention and the Brussels
Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention
continue to work towards implementing the provisions ofthese protocols. A 2004 decision of the European Council(2004/294/EC) requires that the 11 contracting parties to theParis Convention that are also EU member states (with the
exception of Denmark and Slovenia) deposit simultaneously
their instruments of ratification or accession to the 2004
Protocol to amend the Paris Convention. Italy is finalising
the related ratification and implementation legislation.
After its approval by the Chamber of Deputies, the draft
bill was submitted to the Senate in September 2019. The
only non-EU member state that also needs to finalise its
national legislative process to ratify the 2004 Protocol toamend the Paris Convention is Turkey; the draft bill has been
submitted to the National Assembly in November 2019. In
the meantime, other signatories of the 2004 Protocols (suchas Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Spain) haveadopted transitory legislation that implements into national
legislation higher compensation levels as provided in the2004 Protocols, pending their entry into force.
Reactors continue to be built and “newcomer” countries
continue to launch new nuclear power programmes.
Skilled legal experts will be needed to respond to newlegal challenges (such as the lifetime extension of nuclear
reactors or the development of new reactor designs, suchas small modular reactors) but also to address outstanding
legal questions in countries that have decided to develop
or maintain nuclear power programmes, as well as
countries phasing out who will be facing the challengesof decommissioning and radioactive waste management.
Maintaining a stable force of knowledgeable, inquisitive anddedicated nuclear lawyers is therefore critical not only at anational level, but also at an international level.
■NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights
The NEA study on The Costs of Decarbonisation:
System Costs with High Shares of Nuclear andRenewables was launched in January 2019 witha high-level event in Budapest, Hungary. The
report analyses the behaviour and the costs ofa realistic electricity system, representative ofa typical OECD country subject to a stringent
carbon constraint, with varying shares of variable
renewables and nuclear power.

NuclearDevelopment
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to provide governments
and other relevant stakeholders with authoritative, reliable
information and analyses on current and future nuclear
technologies, as well as on the role of nuclear energy
now and in the future from a sustainable development
perspective. Studies cover subjects as key and diverse as
techno-economics, finance, resource analysis, energy andelectricity demand and supply forecast and analysis, public
opinion assessment, advances in nuclear reactor design, as
well as nuclear fuel and fuel cycle technologies. The NEA
can thus advise policymakers on national and internationalenergy policies aiming to provide low-carbon energy andelectricity in a cost-effective, reliable manner. To meetthis goal, NEA staff in the division work closely with theCommittee for Technical and Economic Studies on Nuclear
Energy Development and the Fuel Cycle (NDC) and its expert
groups. The nature of this area is such that some efforts
are necessarily cross-cutting, and the staff thus ensure
co-ordination with other NEA and OECD work as needed.
NuclearTechnology
Économieet dévelo Development and2019
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Economics
des technologiesnucléaireslMedicapply ofThe SuUTIONS
SIBLE SOLs
Isotope DIAGNOSIS AND POSNOMICAN ECO

Nuclear
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The Suppl

2019

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A new NEA report entitled The Supply of
Medical Radioisotopes: An Economic Diagnosis
and Possible Solutions, jointly produced with
the OECD Health Committee, was launched in
November 2019. This new study analyses thecurrent market structure and identifies barriers
for the implementation of full cost recovery.
The NEA also published Nuclear Energy
Data 2019, providing official information on NEA
member countries’ nuclear energy programmes.
Within the context of the NEA Nuclear
Innovation 2050 (NI2050) initiative, the NEA
collaborated in the organisation of the “Global
Forum on Innovation for the Future of Nuclear
Energy”, which took place in Gyeongju, South
Korea on 9-12 June 2019. This high-level event
brought together nuclear plant leaders, regulatorsand technology providers from around the world.
The NEA also hosted the 2019 Nuclear
Innovation Bootcamp, where participants learnt
the basics of innovation, creativity and productdevelopment to apply them to the nuclear
technology development process.

al Isotop

During an exploratory meeting on 24-25 July
2019, the NEA convened the Global Forum on
Nuclear Energy Education, Science, Technology
and Policy, an academic advisory body madeup of representatives from universities aroundthe world with leading research and education
programmes in nuclear science and technology.

AN ECONOMIC DIAGNOSIS AND
POSSIBLE SOLUTIO
NS

Données
sur l’éner
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es

NE A

Uranium: Resources, production
and demand
In 2019, the joint NEA/International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) Uranium Group continued its efforts to address global
uranium supply and demand issues and started preparations
for Uranium 2020: Resources, Production and Demand (the28 th edition of the “Red Book”). The new edition will provide
a review of world uranium market fundamentals and will
include data on global uranium exploration, investments,
resources, production and reactor-related requirements. It
will offer information on established uranium production sites
and new mine development plans, projections of nuclear
generating capacity and reactor-related requirements through2040, in addition to the latest trends and developments inthe nuclear fuel cycle area.

Nuclear energy data
Nuclear Energy Data 2019 (the “Brown Book”) was finalisedin December 2019 and contains official information provided
by member countries on nuclear energy developments. The
report includes projections of total electrical and nuclear
generating capacities, along with fuel cycle requirements
and capacities to 2040. Based on data as of 1 January 2019,the report reveals that total electricity generation in NEA
countries increased slightly from 2017 to 2018 (by 1.2%) andthat the share of electricity production from nuclear power
plants (NPPs) declined slightly from 18.1% in 2017 to 17.9%
in 2018. Also included are short narrative country reportsthat give updates on the status, trends and issues in national
nuclear energy programmes and policies.

21

The NEA study on The Costs of Decarbonisation:
System Costs with High Shares of Nuclear andRenewables was launched in January 2019 witha high-level event in Budapest, Hungary.

Costs of Decarbonisation: System
Costs with High Shares of Nuclear
and Renewables
This study on the costs of decarbonisation was completed
in December 2018 and launched in Budapest, Hungary inJanuary 2019. The 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 to achieve 50gCO 2 /kWh, by 2050.
These emission levels are one-eighth of the current levels
and will require a rapid and radical transformation of thepower system, with the deployment of low-carbon emitting
technologies such as nuclear energy, hydroelectricity andvariable renewable energy sources. The NEA is currently
exploring with a number of member countries the possibilityof undertaking tailor-made system cost studies based onnational energy mixes and flexibility resources, as well as on
their specific carbon reduction objectives.

Engagement with other elements of
the OECDThe NEA continues to work closely with the International
Energy Agency (IEA) on numerous studies, drafting, forexample, the nuclear chapter of the IEA publication Tracking
Clean Energy Progress (TCEP), which was released in May
2019 at the Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver, Canada.
As was the case for the 2018 version, the TCEP is now
released as an interactive online publication.
The NEA Secretariat also provided substantial input andreview of the IEA’s report on Nuclear Power in a Clean
Energy System, which was also released during the 2019
Clean Energy Ministerial event.
The NEA provides support to the IEA on in-depth reviewsof member country energy policies. During 2019, the NEA
participated in in-depth reviews for the European Union,
Germany, Korea and the Netherlands. The elaboration every
five years of the Projected Costs of Generating Electricity
study is an important and recurrent co-operative project
between the IEA and NEA. The work on the 2020 edition isprogressing successfully, with an expected publication dateof June 2020. In addition to the standard compilation of thelevelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for the various generation
technologies, the 2020 edition will also include a chapter
presenting the system costs associated with all technologies,

22 | NEA Annual Report 2019

which will allow policymakers to better assess the true value
and cost of the various generation technologies.
A collaboration with the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship,
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), Regions andCities (CFE) and the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate(TAD) is ongoing under the framework of the NEA Uranium
Mining and Economic Development (UMED) Expert Group.
The NEA routinely participates in the OECD InterDirectorate Climate Co-ordination meetings, and collaborates
on OECD-wide climate action activities as appropriate.
On the invitation of the OECD Environment Directorate,
the NEA took part in the EU Taxonomy process for“Sustainable Finance in EU Sustainability policies”. Under theTechnical Expert Group (TEG) that co-ordinates the process,
NEA representatives participated in the working groups on“mitigation” and on “do no significant harm”. In both cases,
factual information was provided on nuclear energy withrespect to carbon emissions and other environmental andsocial impacts. Interaction with other group members froma wide variety of backgrounds highlighted the immense needfor the NEA to disseminate its accumulated knowledge withstakeholders beyond the nuclear community and showed thediversity of views among different stakeholders.

Nuclear Innovation 2050 (NI2050)
Work carried out over the past three years during phases I
and II of the NI2050 initiative, led by the guidance of theNI2050 Advisory Panel, has resulted in three successful
outcomes. First, it has opened the way for high-level
discussions on the role that nuclear energy could play inthe longer-term “carbon-neutral” future. This role may
include the introduction of new reactors and fuel cycles,
as well as new applications for nuclear heat and nuclear
electricity, potentially leading to an increased flexibility at
the system level and a better integration of nuclear energy
with renewables. Second, it has confirmed that innovation intechnology evolution is an indispensable contributor to safety
and economics. And finally, it has recognised that successdepends on the early engagement of all stakeholders,and particularly regulators, within the innovation process,while still enabling regulatory independence. The NEA
has prepared a comprehensive NI2050 Activity Report forphases I and II, which was reviewed and endorsed by theCommittee for Technical and Economic Studies on Nuclear
Energy Development and the Fuel Cycle (NDC) and will be
published in 2020. Starting in 2019, NI2050 entered phase III,This first edition of the bootcamp
held outside of the United States
welcomed a group of 28 students
and early career professionals,
competitively selected from among
more than 150 applicants.

having been redefined as a high-level, cross-cutting NEA
incubator to identify, develop and follow-up on innovativeideas for timely and cost-effective deployment of nuclear
energy where multilateral co-operation is most effective.
Within the context of NI2050, the NEA has collaborated
with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), theIAEA, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) and theUnited Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) in theorganisation of the “Global Forum on Innovation for the
Future of Nuclear Energy”, which took place at the Hwabaek
International Convention Center (HICO) in Gyeongju, Korea
on 9-12 June 2019. The event aimed to determine how thenuclear industry could more rapidly implement innovative
solutions in operating and new build plants. It brought together
nuclear plant leaders, regulators and technology providers
from around the world in a collaborative environment
with the aim of forming a common understanding of theopportunities for and barriers to successful deployment.
NI2050 efforts were highlighted with the publication of
the NI2050 Brochure and the organisation of a regulators’roundtable, introduced by Dr Fiona Rayment (Chair of theNI2050 Advisory Panel) and chaired by the NEA DirectorGeneral William D. Magwood, IV. The two-and-a-half-day
forum concluded with the elaboration of a short list offollowup actions and a report that can be found at. The
next Global Forum for Nuclear Innovation will take place inLondon, United Kingdom on 4-7 October 2020, and will behosted by the NNL.
The NEA was also pleased to host the Nuclear Innovation
Bootcamp in August 2019, organised in collaboration with
the French Nuclear Energy Society (SFEN), the Universityof Wisconsin-Madison, the French Alternative Energies andAtomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the Nuclear Innovation
Alliance (NIA). This first edition of the bootcamp held outsideof the United States welcomed a group of 28 students andearly career professionals, competitively selected fromamong more than 150 applicants. The bootcamp aimed
to provide the participants with essential skills and an
in-depth understanding of specific issues relating to nuclear
innovation. Through real-world team projects, expert-led
sessions and hands-on activities, bootcamp participantslearnt the basics about innovation, creativity and productdevelopment. They developed seven innovation ideas intofull-fledged project proposals. A panel of five judges thenselected the team and the idea that will be presented at
the International Youth Nuclear Congress 2020. The 2020
Nuclear Innovation Boot camp will take place on 27 July-7
August 2020 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Security of supply of medical
radioisotopes
Mo-99/ Tc99m supply has remained under pressure in
2019. South Africa has returned to limited production, but
overall scheduling has been challenging as a result of thelong duration of problems that have been intermittent sincelate 2017. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation’s new Nuclear Medicine Facility (ANM) is
operating at limited capacity, and only supplying the domestic
market, while awaiting regulatory approval to operate at full
capacity.
A new NEA report, The Supply of Medical Radioisotopes:
An Economic Diagnosis and Possible Solutions, jointly
produced with the OECD Health Committee, was launchedduring a webinar in November 2019. This new study analyses
the current market structure and identifies barriers for the
implementation of full cost recovery.
In line with commitments made to the now disbanded
NEA High-level Group on the Security of Supply of
Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR), the report entitled“2019 Medical Isotope Demand and Capacity Projection forthe 2019‑2024 Period” was also posted on the NEA website
in November 2019. The need to regularly support market
communications about potential supply problems has been
constant through 2019.

View of the Osiris research reactor which
produces medical radioisotopes.
CEA, France, A. Gonin

23

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Nuclear fuel cycle: Strategies andconsiderations for the back-end
The NEA Expert Group on Back-end Strategies (BEST) is in
the last stages of completing a report that identifies areas oftechnical consensus and key distinctions between fuel cycle
systems. The group was created to examine aspects that play
an important role in countries’ decisions on whether and how
to deploy partially and fully closed nuclear fuel cycles. The
study will be useful to policymakers as it considers various
differentiating characteristics of nuclear fuel cycles, suchas the challenges and the opportunities encountered when
implementing diverse fuel cycle options, and it includes anassessment of the decision drivers that are being pursued
by member countries for the back-end fuel cycle. BEST has
compiled examples from a broad range of situations: large
and small countries and nuclear programmes; countries
with a growing nuclear power programme, those where
the nuclear power sector is stable, and those where nuclear
power is being phased out or is already phased out; countries
focused on direct disposal and those that are undecided or
exploring options, as well as those that are already recycling
spent fuel at full scale. The study will be published in 2020.

Advanced reactors and future energy
market needs
This study assesses how advanced reactors underdevelopment today – including small modular reactors(SMRs) and more innovative generation IV systems – maymeet the demands of rapidly evolving energy and electricity
markets. A key step in the study involves the forecast ofwhat future energy and electricity markets may look like,which includes an in-depth understanding of their technicalneeds. The NEA has assembled the insights of a number ofexperts from industry (vendors, utilities), research institutes,
regulators, grid operators, energy analysts and economists,
renewable energy experts and international organisations.
In September 2019, an international workshop gathered
experts from non-nuclear sectors to provide additional insight
into the development of advanced grid technologies, andstorage and hydrogen applications so as to help identify thecomplimentary and necessary contributions that advanced
reactors can make to the reliability and resilience of future,
low-carbon energy systems. The expert group further
discussed flexibility attributes that advanced reactors,
including generation IV reactors, possess, drawing on thework of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) inthis domain.

Ensuring the adequacy of funding
arrangements for decommissioning
and spent fuel disposal
Many operating nuclear reactors in NEA member countries
will reach their originally planned operational lifetimes in the
coming two decades. There is thus strong social demand toensure adequate plans and financial arrangements for thetimely and cost-effective decommissioning of permanently
shutdown nuclear power plants, as well as for the long-term
management and disposal of spent fuel. In response to this24 | NEA Annual Report 2019

need, this NEA project aims at assisting member countries
to ensure that their funding arrangements are adequate,both in terms of the provisions being constituted and theinstitutional processes that ensure equivalence between
assets and liabilities over time. Based on a broad overview
of the very diverse funding arrangements in NEA member
countries, a conceptual framework, a series of pared
down and harmonised country studies and a set of policy
recommendations are nearing completion. The resulting
report will focus, on the one hand, on the interdependencies
between costs and funding requirements and nuclear
policies – such as long-term operations (LTO) or premature
shutdowns – and on the other hand, on technologicalprogress. The report will complement current approaches
assessing financial adequacy, which are based on the linear
discounting of estimated future costs for decommissioning
and waste disposal, with a circular approach of continuously
adapting all interdependent elements of the process to theextent that new information on costs, social preferences,
policy objectives, lifetimes or rates of return on existing
assets becomes available. The question of the adequacy offunding for decommissioning and waste disposal will thus
be approached from a dynamic perspective that allows forchanges in parameters to be integrated.

Contribution of uranium mining
to economic development
Uranium mining plays a major role in the world economy,
occupying a primary position at the start of the global supply
chain and providing resources for a low-carbon source ofpower. The benefits of mining can be seen in multiple areas
in many countries, including gross domestic product, foreign
direct investment, export earnings and mineral rents that arepaid to host governments. These contributions can act as
an economic catalyst for supporting the development ofcommunities, regions and entire economies. The objectiveof the project led by the NEA Expert Group on Uranium
Mining and Economic Development (UMED) is to enhance
understanding of the potential contribution of uranium
mining in economic and social development. Based on
the lessons learnt from case studies on various countries,
the expert group aims to understand the impacts andbenefits of uranium mining on employment, education andtraining, local business development, tax revenues and theenvironment. The OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, Smalland Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), Regions and Cities isalso contributing to this study, providing insights on local andregional policies related to mining, as well as good practices
in benefits sharing and in working with local communities.

Economic, technical and policy
aspects of long-term operation of
nuclear power plants
Since the publication of the first report on the economics
of LTO in 2012, which highlighted the significant economic
advantages for most countries envisaging LTO programmes,
the macro-environment surrounding LTO decisions has
significantly evolved. Several early closures have been
observed, for example, for both political and economic

Workers at a General Electric factory in Poland prepare a massive generator stator for shipment
to the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station.
GE Power, Canada

reasons. The market prospects in the United States inparticular have been severely undermined because of a
combination of higher shares of variable renewables on thegrid and an abundance of cheap shale gas. At the same time,around 40% of the world’s nuclear fleet, with an average ageof 30 years, will be facing decisions of extended operation
beyond their authorised lifetime in the coming years. If theseauthorisations are not granted, the world’s nuclear capacity
may drop substantially by 2040, with important implications
for the CO2-emissions trajectory, at a time when advanced
economies are undertaking major efforts to decarbonise.
The Ad Hoc Expert Group on Maintaining Low-Carbon
Generation Capacity through LTO of Nuclear Power Plants(EGLTO) met twice in 2019. After assessing the role of
LTO from a political, economic, technical and regulatory
perspective, significant progress was made in theidentification of the key factors necessary to maintain lowcarbon capacity. A methodology to evaluate the costs of LTO
was defined to provide consistent and updated cost figures(overnight costs, LCOE, etc.). The final report will include
operation and maintenance cost reduction opportunities,
as well as new insights into topics such as information andknowledge management and digitalisation.

Reducing the costs of nuclear power
generation
The economics of nuclear new build are being challenged
in OECD countries by the combined effects of the falling
costs of renewables, and the cost overruns and delays
experienced by first-of-a-kind generation-III reactors.
Large capital outlays, long pay-back times and significant
uncertainties regarding overnight costs and completion
times are significant challenges to nuclear energy in thesecountries. As a result, nuclear power might not be on track toreach capacities envisaged in some projections, according toenergy forecast models of the International Energy Agency,
European Commission and the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change needed to achieve emission reduction

targets set in the 2016 Paris Agreement. These challenges
have contributed to a misalignment of key stakeholders
in nuclear projects (industry, government and regulators),
increasing the gap between risks and perceived risks, andthus the investment costs.
In parallel, the nuclear industry is currently performing
well in other parts of the world, with new nuclear capacity
being largely built on time and on budget (i.e. in China andin the United Arab Emirates [UAE]). In addition to theserecent success stories, extensive historical data compiled
from past nuclear programmes (France, Japan, Korea) showsthat nuclear power can be delivered cost-effectively whensuitable conditions are in place.
The Ad Hoc Expert Group on Reducing the Costs of
Nuclear Power Generation (REDCOST) met twice in 2019to assess the main opportunities to reduce the costs of new
nuclear generation. A forthcoming report will discuss shortterm cost reduction opportunities that can be identified at
the level of design, through project management practices
and tools (including taking advantage of digitalisation),enhancement of the regulatory framework and suitable policy
frameworks. In the longer term, the prospects of SMRs andthe possible harmonisation of licensing regimes will also be
analysed. Finally, the construction risks of nuclear new build
projects will be reviewed together with potential frameworks
to reduce the costs of financing.

Projected Costs of Electricity
Generation: 2020 Edition
The study on the projected costs of generating electricity
provides an overview of the LCOE of a range of different
technologies in different countries. This widely usedreference publication with data from participating OECDmember countries, as well as selected non-member
countries, is published every five years in collaboration with
the IEA. In addition to the traditional LCOE calculations basedon data submissions by member countries, the newest 2020
edition will aim at including information on the system costs

25Electricity distribution.
Shutterstock, Urbans

of different technologies. System effects are becoming an
increasingly important issue in electricity system analysis,largely as a result of the variability of supply from wind andsolar photovoltaic sources. The NEA-IEA Expert Groupon Electricity Generating Costs (EGC) Expert Group thatoversees this effort has held the first two of three planned
meetings, on 29 March 2019 and on 26 September 2019.
A technical break-out group focusing on specific analyticalissues surrounding the accounting of system effects and theselection of appropriate metrics met on 27 June 2019.

Approaching nuclear energy from asocial science perspective
Nuclear engineers are accustomed to thinking about
innovations in science and engineering, but may be lessaware of opportunities for institutional innovations, andthese institutional innovations – especially at a time when
the future of nuclear energy remains uncertain – areno less consequential. While the nuclear energy sector
has not been entirely unaware of research in the social
sciences, the approach to examining and absorbing thiswork, and subsequently using it, has been for the most part
serendipitous. This project on approaching nuclear energy
from a social science perspective will help build a bridge
between nuclear engineering and the social sciences sothat nuclear engineering academics and practitioners remainaware of work being carried out in the social sciences andavoid missing opportunities for institutional innovations
that could prove to be critical for the future of nuclear
energy. There is both an important intellectual and practicalcontribution to be made in this area.
On 12-13 December 2019, the NEA organised a workshop
entitled “The Nuclear and Social Science Nexus: Challenges
and Opportunities for Speaking Across the Disciplinary
Divide”. This workshop marks two significant firsts for
the NEA, as well as for academic nuclear engineering.
For the first time, nuclear engineers and social scientists
systematically explored how insights from the social
sciences and humanities could be used to inform the decision
making of organisations in the nuclear energy sector. In a

26 | NEA Annual Report 2019second significant first, selected papers from the workshop(authored by social scientists) will be published in a special
issue of the nuclear engineering journal Nuclear Technology.

Global Forum on Nuclear Energy
Education, Science, Technology and
PolicyThe NEA is convening an academic advisory body made up
of representatives from universities around the world thathave leading research and education programmes in nuclear
science and technology. An exploratory meeting, aimed
at establishing what would be called the Global Councilof Universities on Nuclear Energy Technology, Policy and
Education, was held at NEA headquarters on 24-25 July
2019. The main goal of the exploratory meeting was to
identify priorities and possible areas of work. The meeting
was chaired by Professor Richard K. Lester, who is Associate
Provost for International Activities and the Japan Steel
Industry Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Representatives
from 11 other universities, involved in the initiative, attended
the meeting. A letter on behalf of meeting participants andfaculty who strongly support the initiative was sent to the
NEA Director-General, presenting a path forward for the
Global Council, with a focus on four areas of work: 1) the
future of nuclear engineering education; 2) requirements forthe competitiveness of nuclear energy technologies of the
future; 3) rethinking the relationship between nuclear energy
and society; and 4) achieving gender balance in nuclear
technology academic and practitioner workforces.

Contact:

Dr. Sama Bilbao y León
Head, Division of Nuclear Technology
Development and Economics+33 (0)1 73 21 29 50
sama.bilbaoyleon@oecd-nea.org

Secretariat-serviced bodies
Generation IV International Forum (GIF)
Established in 2001, the Generation
IV International Forum (GIF) brings
together 13 countries (Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China,
France, Japan, Korea, Russia, South
Africa, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom and the United States),
as well as Euratom – representing
the 28 European Union members− to co-ordinate research anddevelopment on advanced nuclear
energy systems. The Framework
Agreement that oversees R&D
a c t i v i t i e s w a s ex t e n d e d o n
26 February 2015 for an additionalten years. The United Kingdom, oneof the founding members of GIF,
ratified the Framework Agreementin 2018 and became ac tively
involved in the GIF R&D activities of
sodium-cooled and helium-cooled
reactors. Argentina and Brazil have
yet to accede to the Framework
Agreement, and are not yet involved
in R&D activities within the GIF.
Six conceptual nuclear energy
systems were selected in 2002 forcollaborative R&D: the sodiumcooled fast reactor (SFR), the veryhigh-temperature reactor (VHTR),
the supercritical water- cooled
reactor (SCWR), the gas-cooled fast
reactor (GFR), the lead-cooled fast
reactor (LFR) and the molten salt
reactor (MSR). These six generation
IV systems were confirmed in

the Technology Roadmap Update
for Generation IV Nuclear Energy
Systems, published in 2014. GFR,SCWR, SFR and VHTR research
activities within GIF are organised
into four system arrangements,
under which project arrangements
have been set up. MSR and LFRactivities are not yet organised into
system arrangements and projects,
and these activities operate undermemoranda of understanding thatgovern information exchanges
bet ween the signatories andobservers. The MSR provisional
System Steering Committee has,
however, agreed to move towards asystem arrangement and is currently
preparing its System Research Plan.
The GIF R&D Outlook for Generation
IV Nuclear Energy Systems: 2018
Update was issued in May 2019
during the Clean Energy Ministerial
in Vancouver, with Canada also
hosting the GIF Policy Group
meeting.
During that Policy Group meeting,
GIF continued to re-engage withindustry through its Senior Industry
Advisory Panel (SIAP), as well aswith generation IV SMR vendorsthat had gathered in Vancouver fora number of events linked to the
Nuclear Innovation Clean Energy(NICE) Future initiative of the Clean
Energy Ministerial.

Following Turkey’s bid to join GIF,
which was presented at the PolicyGroup meeting in Paris in October
2018, in August 2019, GIF sent adelegation to visit Turkish research
institutions, including the Scientificand Technological Research Councilof Turkey (TÜBITAK), Turkish Atomic
Energy Authorit y (TA EK) anduniversities in Ankara and Istanbul.
This visit showed that Turkey had
both the experimental facilities
and the human resources to carryout nuclear R&D programmes. GIF
recommended that Turkey develop
a national roadmap for generation
IV research to support the country’s
bid to join GIF.
Throughout 2019, the NE A
continued to provide support tothe technical bodies in charge ofthe development of the six systems
and the three methodology working
groups, as well as to the SIAP. The
NEA also maintains the GIF public
website and extranet, and organises
and hosts several GIF meetings,
while supporting countries hosting
Policy Group meetings – in 2019,held in Canada (Vancouver) andin China (Weihai). The NEA is fullycompensated for its support to
GIF through voluntary, financial
and in-kind contributions madeby individual GIF memb er s .

Policy Group Meeting,Weihai, China,
17-18 October 2019.

27

Secretariat-serviced bodies (cont’d)International Framework
for Nuclear Energy
Cooperation (IFNEC)
T he Interna tional Framewor k
for Nuclear Energy Cooperationconsists of 34 participant countries, 31 observer countries and4 observer organisations (Euratom,
GIF, the IAEA and the NEA). Of the
33 NEA member countries, 26 aremembers of IFNEC.
In 2019, IFNEC continued towork with its member countries
and organisations, under the chairmanship of Mr Julián Gadano,
Undersecretary for Nuclear Energyof Argentina. Several meetings
took place in Beijing in June 2019,
including a Steering Group meeting
and an Infrastructure Development
Working Group (IDWG) meetingon “export controls as an enablerof nuclear co-operation”, which
included presentations from IFNEC
member countries (China, Kenya,
Poland, the UAE and the UnitedStates), speakers from internationalorganisations (including the Nuclear
Suppliers Group and the IAEA) anda specialised law firm. A Nuclear
Supplier and Customer Countries
Engagement Group (NSCCEG)
meeting on “safety and safety culture in a customer country” wasalso held. The objective was todiscuss, through case studies, howco-­o peration bet ween suppliercountries and customer countries
can support the development of asafe nuclear programme in the customer country, as well as the development of a strong safety culture.

IFNEC Executive Committee,
Washington, United States,
13 November 2019.

28 | NEA Annual Report 2019

In September 2019, the Chair andthe IFNEC Secretariat organised an
IFNEC side-event meeting during
the IAEA General Conference inVienna, which was well attended,and helped to promote the work of
IFNEC and its upcoming activities.
Also in September 2019, the
IDWG held a workshop hosted
by the Polish Ministry of Energy
in Warsaw on “nuclear energy
beyond electricity”, focused on
industrial heat production, district
heating through cogeneration,and hydrogen and synthetic fuels
for transport. Workshop participants discussed broad topics that
included non-­electric applications of
nuclear energy and the key role thathigh-temperature reactors (HTRs)
could play in providing both electricity and process heat applications.
One session focused on the role ofhydrogen, one of the most promising low-carbon energy vectors,
which can be produced in particularfrom HTRs.
In October 2019, IFNEC participated in the Africa Nuclear Business
Platform, where the Steering Group
Chair moderated the last panel session on international collaborationand expectations from embarking
countries in Africa and what IFNEC
can provide in terms of assistance.
Represent atives from Ghana,South Africa, Sudan and Uganda
were present.
The last and most important
activity of the year was the IFNEC
week hosted by the United Statesin Washington D.C. The week
started with a Reliable Nuclear
Fuel Ser vices Working Group(RNFSWG) meeting, where theco-chairs presented the results of
the workshop on approaches tofinancing a multinational repository,f ollow e d by dis c u s s ion s onfollow-up work. The Steering Group
Chair, Mr Gadano, stepped down
and Vice-Chair Suzanne Jaworowski
was confirmed as the new SteeringGroup Chair; Mr Facundo Deluchi
of Argentina became a new ­V ice-­
Chair, as well as NSCCEG Co-Chairalongside Mr Shi Lishan (China) andMr Kenji Totoki (Japan). The IDWG
also saw a change in its co-chairs
with Alex Burkart stepping down
af ter co-chairing the group foreight years, and being replaced by
Mr Mike Goff (United States). The
IFNEC meetings were followed by
the Global Ministerial Conference
Bringing the World SMRs andAdvanced Nuclear, a conference
that gathered high-level speakers
from IFNEC member countries
and international organisations,along with experts and consultants
working in the nuclear field.
The closing sessions of theconference were held at the WhiteHouse on 14 November with remarksby the US Secretary of Energy Rick
Perry and speeches from high-level
officials. IFNEC’s outgoing SteeringGroup Chair Gadano and the first
IFNEC Chair Ed McGinnis closed theconference.
The NEA is fully compensatedfor its support to IFNEC throughvoluntary, financial and in-kind
contributions made by individual
IFNEC members.

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights

Nuclear Safety
and Regulation
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to assist member
countries in their efforts to ensure high standards ofsafety in the use of nuclear energy, by supporting thedevelopment of effective and efficient regulation andoversight of nuclear installations and activities, and byhelping to maintain and advance the associated scientificand technological knowledge base. The staff works closelywith the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations(CSNI), the Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities(CNRA) and their subsidiary groups in this area.

Several interna tional wor k s hop s orconferences were held in 2019, including: a Special
International Nuclear Regulatory Inspection
Workshop on Digital Instrumentation and Control(DI&C) on 9-13 June in Toronto; a Specialists
Workshop on Advanced Instrumentation andMeasurement Techniques for Experiments
Related to Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics
and Severe Accidents on 22-25 October in Livorno;
and a Joint NEA-IAEA Technical Meeting on theManagement of Direct Current Power Systems
and Application of New Devices in Safety
Electrical Power Systems for Nuclear Power Plants
on 2-6 December in Vienna.
Three international workshops were also
held in the Paris region during 2019, notably theInternational OECD/NEA Workshop on Source
Term on 21-22 January; the Joint Workshop
on Fukushima Daiichi Decommissioning andRelevant NEA Activities on 24 January; andthe International Workshop on Developments
in Safety Assessment Approaches and Safety
Management Practices of Fuel Cycle Facilities on
7-9 October.
The 7 th edition of Nuclear Power Plant
Operating Experience from the IAEA/NEA
International Reporting System for Operating
Experience (i.e. the “Blue Book”) was finalised in
2019, covering 246 event reports submitted by IRS
member countries during the 2015-2017 period.

r Plant
Nuclear Powe rience
Operating Expe

/NEA
from the IAEA
rting System forInternational RepoExperience
Operating2015-2017

NEA

The Multinational Design Evaluation
Programme (MDEP) issued a common position
on Counterfeit, Fraudulent and Suspect Items,
Procedures and Policies, and a technical reporton the Assessment of Multinational Vendor
Inspection of AREVA NP Creusot Forge, thenuclear foundry.

Nuclear safety technology
Safety issues

Analysis of accidents

The Senior Expert Group on Safety Research/Support
Facilities for Existing and Advanced Reactors of the
NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI)
updated a review on the status of key research facilities
required to support the safety of nuclear installations. Group
members found that the actions identified in the previous
review of support facilities in 2007 had been successful inensuring the continued operation of key facilities. As such,the updated review includes new recommendations to support facilities at risk of closure and to ensure that important
experimental datasets are preserved. Examples of facilities atrisk include thermal-hydraulic loops that provide scaled representations of a reactor cooling system, hot cell apparatuses
for studying the behaviour of fission products and large instrumented vessels to simulate reactor containment behaviour.

The NEA Working Group on Analysis and Management of
Accidents (WGAMA) continued to focus on the in-vessel
and ex-vessel behaviour of degraded cores, the thermalhydraulics of the reactor coolant system, containment
behaviour and protection, computational fluid dynamics,
and fission product release and transport. Reports werecompleted in 2019 on the development of a systematic
approach to input uncertainty quantification of the physicalmodels in thermal-hydraulic codes (SAPIUM), on theInternational OECD/NEA Workshop on Source Term thatwas held in January 2019, and on the 2018 Workshop on
Experimental Validation and Application of Computational
Fluid Dynamics and Computational Multi-Fluid Dynamics
Codes to Nuclear Reactor Safety Issues.

29

Cooling tower, Mülheim-Kärlich nuclear power plant.
Wikimedia Commons, Wolkenkratzer

The main objective of the NEA Working Group on Risk
Assessment (WGRISK) is to advance the understanding
and use of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) as atool to support nuclear safety decision making in member
countries. During 2019 work continued on the modellingof I&C systems and a survey of human reliability analysis
methods and their applications in existing PSAs for external
events. Reports were completed in 2019 on the status ofapproaches for assessing site-level risk, including multi-unit
risk assessment, and on seismic PSA for nuclear facilities.
A joint activity was initiated with the NEA Working Groupon External Events (WGEV) assessing the impacts ofcombinations of external hazards.
The NEA Working Group on Fuel Safety (WGFS)
continued its work on fuel behaviour under the conditions ofa reactivity-initiated accident (RIA), as well as work on theassessment of the applicability of existing safety criteria toaccident-tolerant fuels. A report was completed in 2019 on
the outcomes of a benchmark exercise modelling RIA events.

Safety of components, structuresand systems
The work of the NEA Working Group on Integrity andAgeing of Components and Structures (WGIAGE) focuseson the integrity, ageing and seismic behaviour of metalcomponents and concrete structures. WGIAGE completed
a number of activities in 2019, and reports were producedon the assessment of structures with concrete flaws and on
the assessment of safe shutdown earthquakes comparedwith observed occurrences. An evaluation was completedof aged concrete reactor containment structures, and of therequirements for the design and monitoring of vibrations insafety-related fluid systems.

Fuel cycle safety
The NEA Working Group on Fuel Cycle Safety (WGFCS)
brings together regulatory and industry specialists to addressa broad range of interests, including safety assessments,
nuclear criticality safety, PSAs, safety management,
decommissioning, site remediation, chemical hazards,
human factors and fire protection. In 2019, the WGFCS held

30 | NEA Annual Report 2019a workshop entitled Developments in Safety Assessment
Approaches and Safety Management Practices of theFuel Cycle to share recent international progress on safetyassessment methods. The working group periodicallyreviews the joint International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)/
NEA Fuel Incident Notification and Analysis System (FINAS),
which is the only international system providing regulatorsand government bodies with information about lessons learnt
from safety-significant events at fuel cycle facilities.

External events
The objective of the WGEV is to improve the understanding
and treatment of external hazards in order to support thecontinued safety performance of nuclear installations
and improve the effectiveness of regulatory practices. In
2019, the WGEV continued to work on developing insights
into the concepts used to establish effective protective
measures to cope with flooding hazards and continued tofacilitate a benchmark exercise on the quantitative technicalanalysis used for assessing hazard frequency, as well as
the magnitude of risk assessments for external events. A
new activity was also initiated on hazard assessment andprotection for events involving high winds and tornados.

Robustness of electrical systems
The NEA Working Group on Electrical Power Systems(WGELEC) collaborates on enhancing the robustness ofelectrical systems, improving the analysis of electricalsystem performance and addressing safety challenges
associated with electrical systems. Ongoing activities in 2019
investigated measures to prevent accelerated degradation andthe failure of batteries used for safety systems, and reviewed
new electrical devices that can be used for replacement/
retrofit and for new build. In 2019, the WGELEC organised
the Joint NEA-IAEA Technical Meeting on the Managementof Direct Current Power Systems and Application of New
Devices in Safety Electrical Power Systems for Nuclear
Power Plants on 2-6 December in Austria as a part of its work
to support activities on the degradation of batteries, and on
new devices for retrofit and new build. A new task also began
in 2019 to review experience with measures identifying andmanaging open-phase conditions.

Shutterstock, PopTika

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Regulation of Nuclear Installations
Regulatory issues
With a focus on existing nuclear power reactors and on othernuclear installations, the NEA has continued to exchange
information on the safety and regulation of nuclear installations with the objectives of better understanding national
regulatory requirements and of harmonising regulations.
Noting the general interest of member countries in initiatives involving small modular reactors SMRs, the NEA
Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) isreviewing the status of SMR-related activities at the international level. Before deciding whether complementary workon this subject should be undertaken under the auspices of
the CNRA, discussions are ongoing to take into account thecurrent strategy, challenges and structure of the committee.

Inspection practices
In June 2019, the NEA Working Group on Inspection
Practices (WGIP) and the NEA Working Group on Digital
Instrumentation and Control (WGDIC) organised a workshop
in Canada dedicated to the identification of commendable
practices for the inspection of digital instrumentationand control (I&C) hardware and software. This workshop
addressed important topics such as the inspection andtreatment of software modifications, and the scope of testing
and commercial upgrades that would support the safe use ofdigital I&C prior to qualification. The workshop proceedings
are expected to be issued in early 2020.
The WGIP also co-ordinated the nuclear power plant(NPP) benchmarking inspection hosted by Belgium in
October, with the participation of the Czech Republic,
Finland, the Slovak Republic and the United States. By participating in and observing inspection planning, performanceand enforcement actions, member countries assisted in over-

all improvements to inspection techniques. The WGIP alsobegan preparations for the next benchmarking inspection,
which could tentatively take place in the Slovak Republic in
2020, with the participation of Canada, Switzerland and theUnited Kingdom.
To follow-up on the increasing interest of CNRA membersin the field of the safety and security interface, the WGIP
drafted a questionnaire to better understand and compare
member country inspection practices. Depending on the
results of this survey, the WGIP will decide whether todevelop a specific task in this challenging area.
The WGIP also began preparations for the next
international workshop to be held in Poland in 2020, with theaim of addressing the following topics: inspection challenges
related to NPP ageing management, a graded approach to
optimising the inspection process and the inspection oflicensees’ readiness for external events that could result ina station blackout.

Operating experience
The NEA Working Group on Operating Experience (WGOE)
continued to share information and carry out follow-up
actions related to trends and lessons learnt from national
events. Proceedings for the 2017 International Workshop
on Operating Experience held in Spain on best practices
derived from regulatory operating experience databases
were published in early 2019.
The WGOE continued to examine events submitted tothe joint IAEA/NEA International Incident Reporting System(IRS) for Operating Experience, which is the only international
system that provides regulators with information about safety‑­significant events at NPPs. The Nuclear Power Plant Operating
Experience from the IAEA/NEA International Reporting31

Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR).

System (the “Blue Book”), which covers approximatively
240 events that occurred during the 2015‑2017­­
period,was completed in 2019 and will be published in early 2020.
The WGOE also carried out an in-depth review of its
ongoing tasks to identify and share information among its
members on non-conforming, fraudulent and suspect items(NCFSI). Items to be considered as NCFSI will be clarified
in the near future, and existing guidance will be updated
accordingly so as to disseminate information on these items.

Evolving designs and technologies
The NEA Working Group on the Regulation of New Reactors(WGRNR) focuses its activities on regulatory activities in
the area of siting, licensing and overseeing new commercial
NPPs. In 2019, the WGRNR successfully completed themigration of the Construction Experience (ConEx) databaseto the IRS database hosted by the IAEA. In addition, a report
entitled Survey of the Regulatory Practice to Assess Passive
Safety Systems used in New Nuclear Power Plant Designs
was issued in 2019. A country report on the “Interface
Between Safety and Security”, and summary reports on the“Licensing Process of New Reactor Applications” and on
the ConEx database entitled “Third Construction Experience
Synthesis Report” are under preparation. The WGRNR is also
developing a new activity, the “Oversight of New Nuclear
Power Plant Construction”. The WGRNR is continuing
its work on a survey and on a report that will address theregulation of corporate governance for nuclear safety.
The NEA Working Group on the Safety of Advanced
Reactors (WGSAR), established in 2018 as a permanentworking group under the CNRA, provides regulatory
perspectives on selected advanced reactor designs,
including the identification of required safety research.
It is currently focusing on areas such as severe accident
prevention and mitigation measures, neutronics and criticality
safety, and analytical codes and fuel qualification for sodium
fast reactors. A technical report on analytical codes and

32 | NEA Annual Report 2019

methods for sodium fast reactors was approved in June
2019. A new international benchmark was also launched in2019 considering a core damage scenario in a lead-cooled
fast reactor (LFR) to assess code capabilities and knowledge
gaps that may be relevant to regulators. The WGSAR also
continued its activities in relation to regulatory approaches
to fuel qualification for advanced reactors, and the use ofanalytical codes and methods in the safety assessment ofadvanced reactors. WGSAR members continued to interact
with the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), in particularon the initiative examining a risk-informed approach to event
selection and component classification.
The WGDIC addresses regulatory issues associatedwith the use of digital technologies in existing and new
nuclear installations. The WGDIC has published a seriesof consensus positions on current and emerging technicalchallenges in the digital I&C field, first under MDEP and now
under the CNRA. An in-depth review was undertaken in 2019of ongoing consensus positions concerning the impact ofcyber security features on digital I&C safety systems. The
output of the workshop on digital I&C inspections, organised
jointly with the WGIP and held in June 2019, will be used as
input for a forthcoming technical report. The main objectiveof the report is to provide guidance on the inspection ofboth hardware and software for “important-to-safety”
components and systems. The WGIP and the MDEP Vendor
Inspection Co-operation Working Group (VICWG) will be
asked to collaborate on this activity in order to offer theirexpertise on inspections. The report is expected to be issuedin early 2022.

Contact:

Véronique Rouyer
Head, Division of Nuclear Safety
Technology and Regulation+33 (0)1 73 21 29 10veronique.rouyer@oecd-nea.org

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Joint Projects
Nuclear safety research
The Halden Reactor
Project
The Halden Reactor Project, operated
by the Norwegian Institute for Energy
Technology (IFE), was established in
1958 and was the largest and the oldest of NEA joint projects. It brought
together an important international
technical network in areas of nuclear
fuel reliability, integrity of reactor
internals, and plant control/monitoringand human factors. The programme
was primarily based on experiments,
product prototype developments andanalyses carried out at the Haldenestablishment in Norway, and it was
supported by approximately 130 organisations in 20 countries. It benefited
from a stable and experienced organisation and a technical infrastructurethat had undergone substantial developments over the years. The objectivesof the project have been continuously
adapted over the years to users’ needs.

The current three -year phase(2018-2020) of the Halden Reactor
Project had begun when, at the endof June 2018, the Norwegian Institutefor Energy Technology decided to terminate the operation of the Halden
reactor as a result of technical andfinancial challenges. Since the Nuclear
Fuels and Materials work programme
was planning to continue work on
fuel safety and operational margins,
as well as on plant ageing and degradation, a revision to the agreement
is currently ongoing to take the permanent shutdown of the reactor into
account. Research continued in 2019
in the context of the Man, Technology,
Organisational programme, notably inthe areas of human factors and digital
I&C, as well as in maintenance, outage
and decommissioning.
In order to answer the need forsolid experimental evidence from test
facilities at a time when several research
reactors like Halden have been shut

Illustration of theHalden reactor showing
the cross-section of
the core (top right)
and indicating how an
instrumented fuel rod(bottom right) is placed
within the reactor.
Institute for Energy
Technology, Norway

down, the NEA launched an initiative toform a new multinational framework forin-pile fuels and material testing – theFramework for Irradiation Experiments(FIDES). Under this framework, Joint
Experimental Programmes (JEEPs) will
be implemented in a co-ordinated way.
Work in the fuel area in 2019
included continued testing of highburn-up fuel under loss-of-coolant
accident (LOCA) conditions. Until thepermanent shutdown of the reactor
in 2018, these were some of the only
LOCA tests that were performed in-pileworldwide, and they complemented
work being undertaken at laboratory
scale in other institutions, notably inJapan and the United States.
Long-term irradiations have been
carried out with advanced and standard
nuclear fuel at high initial rating conditions. Corrosion and creep behaviour ofvarious alloys have also been studied.
The experimental programme continued to examine the effects of waterchemistry variants on fuel and reactor
internals materials. Tests to investigate the cracking behaviour of reactor
internals materials in boiling and pressurised water reactors (PWRs) havecontinued, with the aim of characterising the effect of water chemistry andmaterial ageing. The project also contributed to generation IV research in theareas of instrument development andmaterials testing.
The programme on human factors
focused on experiments in the Halden
Man-Machine Laboratory, related data
analyses, new control station designs,
evaluations of human-system interfaces, process and instrumentation
optimisation, and digital I&C. These
activities involved, inter alia, the useof the Halden Virtual Reality Centre.
Progress was also made in the area of
human reliability analysis, which aimed
to provide data suitable for probabilistic safety assessments (PSAs) and to
improve the validity of human reliability
analysis methods.

33

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR
The ATLAS facility.
KAERI, Korea

The ATLAS Project
The Advanced Thermal-hydraulic Test
Loop for Accident Simulation (ATLAS)
is a thermal-hydraulic integral effecttest facility for advanced light water
reactors (LWRs) located in Korea. It
was commissioned in 2006 and various
beyond-design-basis accident tests
have been carried out since 2012.
The second phase of the ATLAS
Project (2017-2020) is aimed at topics
identified by the participants as having
high safety relevance for both existing
and future nuclear power plants (NPPs).
The following topics will be addressed:• passive core makeup during station
blackout and small-break LOCAs;• inte r m e d i ateb re ak LO C A s ,including the risk-informed breaksize definition;• design extension condition scenarios

such as steam line break, followed
by steam generator tube ruptureand shutdown coolability without aresidual heat removal system;• open tests to address scaling
issues, which involve performing
counterpart tests following theprevious integral effect tests.

The experimental programme will
provide an integral effect experimental
database, which will be used tovalidate code predictive capability andthe accuracy of models. Participantsin ATLAS form a group among NEA
member countries that share theneed to maintain or improve technicalcompetence in thermal-hydraulics fornuclear reactor safety evaluations.
The experimental programme wasdevised to allow for an open test,
targeting a small-break LOCA withtotal loss of the high-pressure safety
injection system. In November 2018,a joint analytical workshop was held,
together with the PKL Project (seepage 12 for more information).
The second phase of the ATLAS
Project runs between October 2017
and September 2020 and is supported
by safety organisations and industry in
the following countries: Belgium, China,
the Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United
Arab Emirates and the United States.

34 | NEA Annual Report 2019

The BIP
The Behaviour of Iodine Project(BIP), hosted by CNL and supported
by 13 member countries, started
in September 2007. Phase 1 wascompleted in 2011 and phase 2 in 2015.
A 3-year follow-up project, BIP‑3,
supported by 11 member countries started in January 2016 and is
attempting to answer some of theoutstanding questions raised during
BIP-1 and BIP2. Interactions between
iodine and paint (i.e. primarily iodine
adsorption onto paint and the subsequent production and release oforganic iodides during irradiation) were
investigated during BIP-1 and BIP‑2.
While painted surfaces are a very
important iodine sink within containment, they represent a pathway thatconverts molecular iodine into organic
iodine, which is less easily trapped
than molecular iodine by conventional
iodine filtration methods (charcoal,
wet scrubbers). The specific technicalobjectives of phase three are to:• perform experiments that will

resolve outstanding questions andimprove the simulations of BIP and
the results of the NEA Source Term
Evaluation and Mitigation (STEM)
Project, including by improving theability to simulate iodine adsorption
and desorption on containment
surfaces; predicting organic iodine
behaviour (formation and degradation) under accident conditions; andinvestigating the effects of paintageing on these processes;• further investigate the effects of contaminants (nitrous oxides, chlorine
and other potential contaminants);• share simulation strategies involving
all partners in, for example, a code
comparison exercise.

Planned testing under BIP phase 3
was completed in 2019, and the overall
results are being documented.

The BSAF
The Benchmark Study of the Accident
at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Station (BSAF) was establishedamong eight NEA member countries
in 2012. The BSAF is intended to
improve severe accident (SA) codes,
and to analyse accident progression
and current core status in detail for the
preparation of fuel debris removal asa part of R&D projects related to themid- to long-term response for thedecommissioning of the Fukushima
Daiichi NPP.
The project is hosted by Japan andbrings together international experts
to advance the understanding of thephenomena of SA behaviour specificto the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident,
while also improving the methods andcodes for modelling such behaviour.
A phased approach was applied inthis NEA benchmark exercise. The firstphase, completed in 2015, was a fullscope analysis of the Fukushima Daiichi
units 1 to 3 using currently available SA
integral codes, with a time span for the
analysis of accident events of about six
days from the occurrence of the earthquake. A complete analysis was also
undertaken of a number of key phenomena, such as initial transient, coreheat-up, core melt, release of fission
products from fuel, and core status,
including debris behaviour and molten
debris-concrete interaction. Phase 2 of
BSAF began in 2015 with membership
expanded to 11 NEA member countries. The scope of analysis for phase 2
is approximately the first three weeks
following the accident, and it includesCabri reactor with water loop scheme.
IRSN, France

fission product behaviour in the reactor
buildings, as well as releases into the
Fukushima site and beyond the site.
The final summary report for the project was approved in 2019.

The CIPThe Cabri International Project (CIP) isinvestigating the ability of high burn-up
PWR fuel to withstand the sharp powerpeaks that can occur in power reactors
due to postulated rapid reactivity
insertions in the core, or RIAs. The
project participants, from 12 member
countries, intend to determine thelimits for fuel failure and the potential
consequences of possible ejectionof fuel into the coolant environment.
Different cladding materials and fueltypes are being studied. The project is
operated and managed by the FrenchInstitute for Radiological Protection and
Nuclear Safety (IRSN) and performedin the Cabri Facility, which belongs to
the French Alternative Energies andAtomic Energy Commission (CEA), in
Cadarache, France. While the facility is
operated by the CEA, it is funded by
the IRSN.
The Cabri tests are complemented
by additional RIA tests being performed
in Japan. These tests, which constitutean in-kind contribution from the Japan
Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), arebeing carried out in both cold and hot
coolant conditions, and using both
BWR and PWR fuel.
After 13 years of major refurbishment
financed by the IRSN, the Cabri
research reactor returned to criticality
at low power in October 2015. Lowpower tests from October 2015 to June
2016 allowed for complete neutronic
characterisation of the core. In 20152016, qualification of the experimental

equipment was completed, in particular
the imager y and spectroscopy
measurement station, as well as thehodoscope; the pressurised water loop
was also qualified at 280°C and 155
bars. High power (23 MWe) operation
was attained during the last quarterof 2016. This test was part of thecommissioning tests in 2017, including
high power pulses that reached up to
20 GWe. The final phase of testing in
relation to RIA-type power transientswas completed in 2017 and included 66
power pulses of different magnitudes
and durations. A request made in late
May 2017 to the French Nuclear Safety
Authority (ASN) for authorisation of thefirst test in the water loop led to thistest being carried out in April 2018.
This first water loop test used a MOX
fuel test rod with Zr-4 cladding and aburn-up of 47 GWj/t. Post-test analysis
for the first test continued through2019, and preparations were made forthe second test planned for early 2020.
The project partners have agreed toa three-year extension of the project toMarch 2021.

The HEAF Project
Massive electrical discharges, referred
to as high energy arcing faults (HEAF),
have occurred in NPP switchingcomponents throughout the world.
These incidents have been increasing
because of ageing infrastructures andgrowing energy demands. The HEAF
Project was initiated in 2012 to perform
experiments in order to obtain scientificfire data on HEAF phenomena throughcarefully designed experiments. Phase
1 of the HEAF project was completed in2016 with a final report describing thetesting and data generated. The reportconcluded with recommendations forareas requiring further testing.

In February 2017, an International
Phenomena Identification and Ranking
Table (PIRT) exercise was held to
identify phenomena of the highest
importance with the least amount ofknowledge being available on HEAF
events. This exercise tentatively
identified aluminium oxidation,pressure effects, the characteristics
of target structures and mitigating
factors (e.g. HEAF shields) as being
areas of interest for HEAF phase 2.
Discussions have been completed withrepresentatives from nine countries toinitiate a second phase of the project.
The second phase of HEAF will run
from 2019 to the end of 2021.

The HYMERES Project
The Hydrogen Mitigation Experiments
for Reactor Safety (HYMERES) Project
was initiated in 2013 with the objective of improving the understanding ofhydrogen risk phenomenology in containment, and of enhancing the modelling of hydrogen behaviour in supportof safety assessments that will be
performed on current and new NPPs.
The HYMERES Project is specifically
aimed at topics of high safety relevancefor both existing and future NPPs. It
explores measured parameters, as wellas configurations and scales, and thus
enhances the value of the data in termsof code improvements.
The unique and complementary
fe atures of the M ultipur p ose
Integral Test Facility for LWR Safety
Investigations (PANDA) in Switzerland
and the Storage of Thermal Reactor
Safety Investigations (MISTRA) facility
in France – with their differencesin size and configuration and theircomprehensive instrumentation interms of both spatial and temporal
resolution – allows for high-quality
experimental data. This data can thenbe used to improve the modellingcapabilities of computational fluid
dynamics and advanced lumped
parameter computer codes designed
to predict post-accident, thermalhydraulic conditions in containments,
thus enhancing confidence in their use
in plant analyses.
The first phase of HYMERES wasconcluded at the end of 2016. In July
2017, a second phase of the project35

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

started and a kick-off meeting was heldin October 2017. A total of 11 countries– China, the Czech Republic, Finland,
Germany, Japan, Korea, Russia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the UnitedStates – are continuing their joint
research to improve and validate safety
codes for the simulation of reactor
containment conditions in accident
scenarios.
By means of experiments being
carried out in the PANDA facility
in Switzerland, the influence on
containment thermal-hydraulics isbeing investigated during phase 2 of the
project. The work programme focuses
on four main topics: flow impacting
obstructions and containment internal
structures, radiative heat transfer,
suppression pressure pool and BWR
systems, and the performance ofsafety component operations. The fifth
project meeting was held in November
2019, and results of tests to investigate
the effects of horizontal plates onthermal-hydraulic flow patterns werediscussed. The project members
are currently preparing a benchmark
exercise on the basis of a PANDA
experiment.

The LOFC Project
Following a recommendation of the
CSNI Task Group on Advanced Reactor
Experimental Facilities (TAREF) for
gas-cooled reactor safety studies,
the Loss of Forced Cooling (LOFC)
Project started in April 2011, withseven countries participating. The
LOFC experiments study the effectsof the reduction of reactor cavity
cooling system performance and arehighly relevant for safety assessmentsof advanced reactors such as thehigh - temp erature re ac tor. T heproject remains on hold while active
discussions continue between the
JAEA and the regulator on the restartof the reactor. Experiments are to be
carried out by the JAEA in its High-

Temperature Engineering Test Reactor(HTTR) in Oarai, Japan.
The objectives of the project are to
conduct integrated large-scale tests of
LOFC in the HTTR reactor, to examine
high-temperature gas-cooled reactor
safety characteristics in support ofregulatory activities, and to provide
data useful for code validation andimprovement of simulation accuracy.
The objectives of the experimental
programme are to provide experimental
data to:• clarify the anticipated transient

without scram in case of LOFC withoccurrence of reactor re-criticality;• validate the most important safety
aspects regarding reactor kinetics,
core physics and thermal-hydraulics;• verify the capabilities of thecodes regarding the simulationof phenomena coupled between
reactor core physics andthermal-hydraulics.

Research (SESAR) Thermal-Hydraulics(SETH) Project (2001-2003), the PKL-1
Project (2004-2007), the PKL-2 Project(2008-2011), and the PKL-3 Project(2012-2016), which included tests
run in the PMK1 facility in Budapest,
Hungary and in the PACTEL 2 facilityin Lappeenranta, Finland, as well as
in the ROCOM 3 facility at DresdenRossendorf, Germany.
Also in the current programme, in
addition to tests that will be run in the
PKL facility, additional tests will be runin the PMK facility in Budapest and in
the PACTEL facility in Lappeenranta.
Phase 4 of the PKL Project started on
1 July 2016 and will end on 30 June
2020. It focuses on parametric studies
on thermal-hydraulic procedures formodel development and validationof thermal-hydraulic system codes,
and on experimental verification ofcool-down procedures and operation
modes for different incidents andaccidents. During the course of the
project, a benchmark exercise is being
carried out where blind (and potentially

The PKL Project
The NEA Primary Coolant Loop Test
Facility (PKL) Project is investigating
safety issues relevant for current
PWR plants, as well as for new PWR
design concepts, and will focus oncomplex heat transfer mechanisms
under two-phase flow, boron dilution
and precipitation, and on cool-down
procedures. These issues are being
investigated by means of thermalhydraulic experiments that will be
conducted at the PrimärkreislaufVersuchsanlage (primary coolant loop
test facility, or PKL). This facility isowned and operated by Framatome
and is situated in Erlangen, Germany.
Areva NP have for a number of years
conducted valuable experiments onreactor thermal-hydraulics in the PKL
facility, including earlier experiments
carried out in the framework of the
CSNI Senior Group of Experts on Safety

The PKL integral test facility.
Orano, France

1. The PMK is an experimental facility at the Atomic Energy Research Institute (FKI-AEKI) in Budapest, Hungary. It is a fullpressure scaled down model of the primary and partly the secondary circuit of the PAKS NPP equipped with VVER-440/213
type reactors.
2. PACTEL is a test facility designed to model the thermal-hydraulic behaviours of VVER-440 pressurised water reactors.
3. The test facility ROCOM (Rossendorf Coolant Mixing Model) was erected for the investigation of coolant mixing in thereactor pressure vessel of pressurized water reactors (PWR). ROCOM is a 1:5 model of the PWR KONVOI.

36 | NEA Annual Report 2019

The Prisme Project DIVA facility
for fire propagation studies.
IRSN, France

open calculation at a later date) will
be benchmarked against one of theexperiments on a small-break LOCA
in the upper head of the pressure
vessel. A joint analytical workshop
was held in collaboration with the
ATLAS Project in 2018, and a second
joint analytical workshop is planned for2020. During 2019, a modification of
the facility’s upper head was finalised,making it more similar to western-style
PWRs. Two tests were conducted,
focusing on the verification of cooldown procedures under conditions of
natural circulation or extended loss of
AC power, respectively.
The PKL Project is supported
by safety organisations, researchlaboratories and industry from thefollowing 14 countries: Belgium, China,
the Czech Republic, Finland, France,
Germany, Hungary, Japan, Korea,
Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
and the United States.

The PreADES project
Two near- ter m projec ts wererecommended in 2017 by the Senior
Expert Group on Safety Research
Oppor tunities Post- Fukushima(SAREF): the Preparatory Study on
Analysis of Fuel Debris (PreADES)
Project and the Analysis of Informationf r o m R e a c to r B u i l d i n g s a n dContainment Vessels of Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (­ARC‑F)
Project. The main objectives of
PreADES are to collect informationthat will help improve knowledge andmethodologies for the fuel debris
characterisation that will support
future fuel debris sampling analysis at
Fukushima Daiichi units 1-3, to identify
needs for fuel debris analyses that willcontribute to the decommissioningof the Fukushima Daiichi plant andexpand the knowledge base in relation
to severe accidents, and to prepare a
future international R&D framework on
fuel debris analysis.
The PreADES project extends from2017 to 2020, and includes 15 participants from 7 countries, as well as the
EC Joint Research Centre. The projectcontains three tasks. First, a joint study
on fuel debris characterisation will
discuss the location of fuel debris inunits 1-3 and debris properties in situ. A
second task will identify issues for discussion on future needs for fuel debris
analysis from the decommissioning
point of view: criticality, containment,cooling function, radiation exposureand major issues for sampling, suchas analysis methods, facility demands,
transport, accounting and hot testing
facilities (including those capable offuel debris analysis). The final task is toplan a future international R&D framework. Based on the agreed PreADES
schedule, the 4th meeting of the joint
project was held in July 2019 in Tokyo,
Japan. It was reported at the meetingthat the 1st task is almost complete andthat the 2nd task will soon be completed
as well.

The PRISME projectFire is a significant contributor to overallcore damage frequency for both new
and old nuclear plant designs. Someof the technical issues related tofire probabilistic safety analysis thatremain open are: the propagation ofheat and smoke through a horizontal
opening between two superposedcompartments; fire spreading on realfire sources such as cable trays andelectrical cabinets; and studies of theperformance of various fire detectionand extinction systems.
A third phase of the Fire Propagation
in Elementary, Multi-room Scenarios(PRISME) project started in 2017 andis planned to continue to 2021 witheight participating countries. The
objective is to answer open questions
concerning smoke stratification andspreading, cable fire propagation andelectrical cabinet fire spreading bymeans of experiments designed forcode validation purposes, mainly within
the IRSN DIVA facility4 at Cadarache,France. A combined benchmark study
between the PRISME and NEA Fire
Incident Records Exchange (FIRE)
projects is also being conducted. In
2019, tests were completed on fire
propagation between neighbouring
electrical cabinets. Progress was also
made on selecting a real event from the
FIRE database and specifying related
test conditions for the benchmark
study at the DIVA facility.

The ARC-F Project
The main objective of the ARC-F
Project is to consolidate participants’and experts’ views that contributeto a better understanding of severe
accident progression and the status
inside reactor buildings and containment vessels at the Fukushima Daiichi
NPP, mainly through the analysis ofdata and information gained fromexaminations of the Fukushima Daiichi
NPP. Another objective of the projectis to establish a framework for sharing
information between Japanese organisations and international experts inreactor safety.
The ARC- F Project runs fromJanuary 2019 to December 2021 andis supported by 12 countries, with
24 partners. The project includes
three tasks. Task 1 will refine theanalysis for accident scenarios andassociated fission product transportand dispersion. Task 2 will compile andmanage data and information, including
on JAEA activities, with the technicalsupport of the Nuclear Regulation
Authority (NRA) of Japan. Task 3
will review future long-term projects
relevant to the Fukushima Daiichi NPP
accident.

4. Experimental facility for the study of fires, ventilation and airborne contamination.

37

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR
The STEM Project:
The START test facility (left)
and the alumina crucible (right)
with RuO2 powder in the quartz
tube.
IRSN, France

The SCIP
The Studsvik Cladding Integrity Project(SCIP) started in July 2004 and completed its first five-year mandate in2009, when several power ramps and a
hot cell programme addressing various
failure mechanisms were executed.
SCIP-2 began in July 2009 with theobjective of generating the high-quality
experimental data needed for improving the understanding of dominant failure mechanisms for water reactor fuelsand devising means to reduce fuel failures. A third phase of the project began
in July 2014, with 33 participants, andended in June 2019. The focus wason fuel behaviour in LOCAs and onpellet-clad interaction. Discussions are
currently underway to initiate a fourthphase of SCIP, and to include activities
related to degradation of spent fuel tosupport the transport and storage ofspent fuel. The final meeting of thethird phase of the SCIP project washeld in June 2019 and focused on theparticipants’ recommendations for thescope of work to be considered in the
fourth phase.

The ROSAU Project
The NEA Reduction of Severe Accident
Uncertainties (ROSAU) Project aims
at reducing knowledge gaps anduncertainties associated with severe
accident progression. Following the
Fukushima Daiichi accident, systematic re-evaluations of assumed accident
initiators were carried out worldwide.
These re-evaluations examined plant
responses to severe accident conditions and operator actions for copingwith and terminating severe accident
progression. Based on these analyses,
gaps were identified in two areas ofsevere accident progression where
additional knowledge was needed
and uncertainties could be reduced.
These areas are: 1) the spreading ofmelt in the containment cavity and theeffect of metal content in the melt on

38 | NEA Annual Report 2019

molten core-concrete interaction; and2) in-core and ex-core debris coolability.
A total of 11 tests in the above twoareas are planned in the context of the
ROSAU Project. Experiments will be
conducted at the Argonne National
Laboratory (ANL) in the United States,with up to 300 kg of molten prototypic
material at temperatures up to 2 400°C.
In addition to these experiments, ANL
will carry out a parallel analytical activity
to refine and validate models and codes
for each test category so as to form thetechnical basis for extrapolating thefindings from the experiments to plantconditions. The project was started in
the fall of 2019 and is planned to end
in the summer of 2024. Safety organisations, research laboratories andindustry from the following countries
are participating: Belgium, Canada, theCzech Republic, France, Japan, Korea,
Sweden and the United States.

The STEM Project
The Source Term Evaluation and
Mitigation (STEM) Project was initiated in 2011 to improve the generalevaluation of the fission product source
term for reactor accidents in relation
to two major fission products: iodine
and ruthenium. Phase 1 of the project,which ended in 2015, addressed threemain issues: experiments on radioactive iodine release due to irradiationof iodine-bearing aerosols; a literature
survey on interactions between iodine
and paints; and experiments on thetransport of volatile ruthenium species
through pipes. Supported by eight
countries, a second phase, STEM-2,
started in January 2016 with the aim of
conducting experimental investigationsof iodine and ruthenium behaviour. In
2019, the last test for the STEM-2
project were completed and a final
report is in preparation. Discussions
are underway for a follow-on project,
Experiments on Source Term for
Delayed Releases (ESTER), which will

focus on delayed releases resulting
from chemical remobilisation of deposits and on organic iodide formation.
The STEM Project has strong scientific links with the NEA Behaviour of
Iodine Project (BIP), with complementary objectives and many common
partners.

The THAI Project
The Thermal-hydraulics, Hydrogen,Aerosols and Iodine (THAI) Project
was initiated in 2007 to investigatehydrogen and fission product behaviour
in a reactor containment structure
based on experiments in the THAI and
THAI+ facilities operated by Becker
Technologies GmbH in Germany. A
second phase followed in 2011, andthen phase 3 was started in 2016 toaddress open issues related to:• PAR performance in the adverse
conditions of counter-current flow;• hydrogen combustion and flame

propagation in a two-compartment
system, looking in particular at the
impact of the higher flow velocities of the unburned gas on flame
acceleration;• fission product re-entrainment fromwater pools at elevated temperature;• resuspension of fission productdeposits (aerosol and moleculariodine) due to a highly-energetic
event, e.g. hydrogen deflagration.

The third phase ended in 2019, witha wrap-up meeting that discussed
the final results on iodine and aerosol
resuspension by hydrogen deflagration.
A new project, THAI Experiments on
Mitigation measures, and source termissues to support analysis and further
Improvement of Severe accident management measures (THEMIS), is being
considered to follow-up on outstanding
questions in the area of combustible
gas and iodine-aerosol behaviour.

Nuclear safety databases
The CODAPThe FIRE Project

The ICDE Project

The Component Operational
Experience, Degradation and Ageing
Programme (CODAP) started in 2011,
building on two earlier NEA projects:
the Piping Failure Data Exchange(OPDE) Project that ran from 2002 to2011 and produced an international
database on piping service experience
applicable to commercial nuclear plants,
and the Stress Corrosion Cracking andCable Ageing Project (SCAP), which
ran from 2006 to 2010 to assess stresscorrosion cracking and the degradationof cable insulation, both of which have
implications for nuclear safety and forplant ageing management.

The Fire Incidents Records Exchange(FIRE) Project started in 2002, andphase 5 of the project began in 2016 fora duration of 4 years, with 14 countries
participating. The main purpose of the
project is to collect and analyse, on aninternational scale, data related to fire
events in nuclear environments. The
specific objectives are to:

The International Common-cause Data
Exchange (ICDE) Project collects andanalyses operating data related to common-cause failures (CCF) that have thepotential to affect several systems,
including safety systems. The project
has been in operation since 1998, andis being extended with a new phase-8
agreement covering the years 2019
to 2022.

The objectives of CODAP include:• collect information on passive metal-

lic component degradation and failures of the primary system, reactor
pressure vessel internals, the mainprocess and standby safety systems, support systems (i.e. ASME
code classes 1, 2 and 3, or the equivalent), and components not related
to safety (non-code) but with significant operational impact;• develop topical reports on deg-

radation mechanisms in close­co‑ordination with the CSNI Working
Group on Integrity and Ageingof Components and Structures(WGIAGE).

CODAP is in its third phase (20182020) and has produced a numberof insight reports analysing events inthe database. In 2019, a review wascompleted of experience with thermal
fatigue in heavy and light water reactor
piping components. At the end of thesecond phase (2015-2017), the CODAP
database included about 4 900 records
on degraded and failed metallic piping
and non-piping passive components.

• define the format for, and collectfire event experience (throughinternational exchange) in a qualityassured and consistent database;• collect and analyse fire events dataover the long term so as to better
understand such events, theircauses and their prevention;• generate qualitative insights into theroot causes of fire events that canthen be used to derive approaches
or mechanisms for their prevention
or for the mitigation of theirconsequences;• establish a mechanism for theefficient feedback of experience
gained in connection with fire
events, including the developmento f d efe n c e s a g a i n s t t h e i roccurrence, such as indicators forrisk-based inspections;• record event attributes to enable
quantification of fire frequencies andrisk analysis.

In 2019, the project conducted areview of the regulatory frameworkand fire safety regulations for the 14
FIRE member countries. Overall, it
was concluded that, typically, a mixof prescriptive and risk-informed
approaches are used to ensure overall
fire safety. Progress was also made on
a common benchmark activity being
conducted between the FIRE database
and the PRISME experimental project,with a cable-fire event being selected
as the basis for the benchmark.

The ICDE Project comprises complete, partial and incipient CCF events.
It currently covers the key componentsof the main safety systems, such as
centrifugal pumps, diesel generators,
motor-operated valves, power-operated relief valves, safety relief valves,
check valves, control rod drive mechanisms, reactor protection system circuit
breakers, batteries and transmitters.
These components have been selected
because several probabilistic safetyassessments (PSAs) have identified
them as major risk contributors in thecase of CCFs.
Qualitative insights from data will
help reduce the number of CCF events
that are risk contributors, and member
countries can use these data for theirnational risk analyses. In 2019, an analysis was completed of events where asingle failure mechanism affected components in multiple systems. It was
concluded that the most common root
cause for such failures was improper
design.

39

Secretariat-serviced bodyMultinational Design
Evaluation Programme
The Multinational Design Evaluation
Programme (MDEP) is a multinational initiative to develop innovative approaches to leverage
the resources and knowledge ofnational regulator y authorities
engaged in new reactor power plantdesign activities. The main objective of MDEP is to enable increased
co-operation and establish a reference for regulatory practices so as
to enhance the safety of new reactor designs. Enhanced co-operation among regulators strengthens
the effectiveness and efficiencyof new reactor licensing reviews.
MDEP co-operation is structured
around its design-specific working
groups. The portfolio of new reactor designs discussed in the framework of MDEP in 2019 include the
EPR, AP1000, APR1400, VVER andHPR1000 working groups. In addition, one issue-specific working
group dedicated to vendor inspection ­co-operation supports the programme by addressing cross-cutting
issues. MDEP members are regulators from Argentina, Canada, China,
Finland, France, Hungary, India,
Japan, Korea, Russia, South Africa,
Sweden, Turkey, the United ArabEmirates, the United Kingdom andthe United States.
MDEP working groups addressa broad spectrum of technicalissues and regulatory challenges
that can arise during the licensing and commissioning phases of
new reactor design, constructionand early phase operation. Active,
constructive engagement among
regulators has led to a productive
year in terms of sharing information
on regulatory decisions and identifying lessons learnt. Currently, theInternational Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) is involved in generic MDEP
activities to support consistency andco-­ordination, but MDEP is nevertheless in a period of transition. The
MDEP Policy Group made important
decisions regarding future work,
recognising that for three designs –the EPR, AP1000 and APR1400 – thescope of work is nearing completion.

40
40 | NEA
NEA Annual
AnnualReport
Report2019
2019

Barakah nuclear power
plant, units 1 & 2,
APR-1400,
the United Arab Emirates.
Creative Commons

The programmes of work for the
EPR, AP1000 and APR1400 design
working groups are mainly focusedon lessons learnt in relation to commissioning and construction activities. These efforts are expected to becompleted by 2022, at the end of theexisting MDEP terms of reference.
Accordingly, the MDEP Steering
Technical Committee was tasked todefine activities and knowledge management actions so as to bring the
programme of work for these threedesigns to an orderly close by 2022.
The activities of these DSWGs are in
sharp contrast to the status of the
VVER and HPR1000 working groups,
with ongoing licensing activities
and planned programmes of workthat span well beyond 2022. For the
VVER and HPR1000 working groups,
licensing and construction work willcontinue after 2022. Whether these
activities will continue under the
existing MDEP framework or undera new framework that would better
meet members’ needs and accommodate interactions with emerging
countries will need to be decided.
Finally, the MDEP Policy Group confirmed that the 5th MDEP Conference
would be held in Hangzhou, China in
October 2020.

2018 MDEP highlights
In 2019, the MDEP design-specificworking groups have been very
active. The EPR working group
issued technical reports in the following areas: first-plant-only-tests
considered for the EPR; hydrogen
management; and an assessmentof a 2A large break loss-of-coolant
accident (2A-LOCA) analysis. The
AP1000 working group completed
a report documenting the technicalexchanges between China and theUnited States during the design,
construction, and commissioning ofAP1000 reactors. The VVER working
group completed a technical reporton the regulatory approaches related
to accidents and transient analyses
for VVER designs. The design-specific common positions issued in2019 include the EPR boron dilution
during a small-break loss-of-coolant
accident, the EPR I&C design, and theirradiation effects on the APR1400
fuel bundle spacer grid strength.
Co-operation on commissioning
activities is part of the programmeof work for all design-specific working groups. Over the past few years,
MDEP design-specific working
groups have increased their focus
on reactor commissioning activities
as new EPR, AP1000, APR1400, andVVER plants have commenced commercial operations. This reporting
period provided valuable opportunities for MDEP regulators, forinstance to demonstrate the efficiency of using common positions
to effectively collaborate and share
information on first-plant-onlytests results conducted in EPR and
AP1000 plants in China. In addition,
MDEP has enhanced co­o perationin areas of emerging risk in supply
chain management and vendor
activities, specifically with regard tocounterfeit, fraudulent and suspectitems (CFSIs). This ongoing co­operation has enabled participating regulators to consider the adequacy of
their activities aimed at mitigating
the risks of CFSIs entering licensee
facilities through vendors.
The NEA is fully compensatedfor its support to MDEP throughvoluntary, financial and in-kind contributions made by individual MDEP
members. For more information on
the MDEP structure, and to consult
publicly available technical reports
and common position papers, see
www.oecd-nea.org/mdep.

Highlights

Human Aspectsof Nuclear Safety
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to assist member
countries in their efforts to enhance the focus onhuman aspects impacting nuclear safety. This sector
also includes issues associated with effective public
communication and stakeholder engagement regarding
decision-making in nuclear operations, decommissioning,
waste management, radiological protection and otherrelated issues. The staff works closely with all NEA
committees and relevant expert groups in this area, mostprevalently the Committee on Radiological Protection
and Public Health (CRPPH), the Committee on Nuclear
Regulatory Activities (CNRA), the Committee on the Safetyof Nuclear Installations (CSNI), the Radioactive Waste
Management Committee (RWMC) and the Committee on
Decommissioning and Legacy Management (CDLM).

Programme

katu 29, Hels
Art, Lönnrotin
6-7 March 2019

inki

NEA

With the objectives to exchange and increaseknowledge on topical areas related to humanaspects of nuclear safety, the members of the NEA
Working Group on Human and Organisational
Factors (WGHOF) held a Learning Forum in Tokyo,
Japan in March 2019.
In June 2019, the NEA held the Workshop on
Human Capital: A Community Approach for the
Safe and Efficient Use of Nuclear Technology in
co-operation with the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) and WANO.
In September 2019, the Committee onRadiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH)
lead the second NEA Workshop on Stakeholder
Involvement with a focus on risk communicationand dialogue towards a better understanding ofradiological risks. The NEA Working Group on
Public Communication of Nuclear Regulatory
Organisations (WGPC) supported the CRPPH on
this cross-cutting issue by gathering the public’s
view on risk and risk communication through an
open public survey.
The NEA Working Group on Safety Culture(WGSC) advanced its t wo tasks on SelfAssessments/Self-Reflection and Building Safety
Culture Competency, through reviewing the
responses to a questionnaire and developing an
initial draft report reflecting the findings.

y Culture
ecific Safet
Country-SpdForum: Finlan

GLO Hotel

In March 2019, the NEA, in collaboration with
the World Association of Nuclear Operators(WANO), held the second Country-Specific Safety
Culture Forum (CSSCF) in Helsinki, Finland. The
event was hosted by the Finnish Radiation and
Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) and brought
together over 60 representatives from the Finnish
nuclear community.

Nuclear Energy Agency
Mentoring aFuof Fem ture Generat
ale Leadion
in Scieer
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Futurehop inSci
Science, Engine ent ists: Interna
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missioning

NE A

Safety culture, leadership andcapacity building
The Working Group on Safety Culture (WGSC) continues
to facilitate an open exchange among regulators on safety
culture, to address influences and factors affecting licensees’
safety culture and the wider interconnected system, and to
consider the related implications on regulatory effectiveness.
During the two meetings of the WGSC held in 2019
members shared the current status of their safety culture
programmes and furthered their work on the two approved
CNRA tasks: 1) Self-Reflection/Self-Assessment and 2)

In Oc tober 2019, the NEA Forum on
Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) held a joint topicalsession with the Integration Group for the Safety
Case (IGSC) on the communication of uncertainty
as part of the groups’ continued collaboration.
The FSC also continued its work in the area ofintergenerational outreach by establishing a task
group, which will focus on current activities inthis area during the annual meeting.
Three International Mentoring Workshops on
Science and Engineering were held in 2019, inJapan, Russia and Spain, providing a forum foraccomplished women to encourage girls in highschool and university to consider studies andcareers in the science and engineering fields.

Competency Building and Awareness, both focusing onpractices within the regulator. The working group conducteda pilot survey, evaluated the responses, and based on thereplies, developed a revised questionnaire to gather targeted
information to complete the tasks.

41

“Insights from Leaders in Nuclear Energy”, Hans Wanner, Director-General, Swiss Federal Nuclear
Safety Inspectorate (ENSI), Mike Harrison, Chief Nuclear Officer, EDF Energy in conversation with
William D. Magwood, IV, Director-General, Nuclear Energy Agency, 5 June 2019.

The working group members continue to have detailed
discussions on a variety of developments intended topositively affect safety culture including leadership incollaboration with other working groups and NEA activities
such as the Country-Specific Safety Culture Forum (CSSCF).

scenario played out by the forum participants. Through thisrole play, participants could reflect and discuss the national
attributes and find ways to work within this context in orderto sustain a healthy safety culture. The CSSCF Finland report
was published in October 2019.

Leaders influence the safety culture of their organisations
and have a major impact on how their staff effectively carryout their work in support of nuclear safety. To learn fromcurrent leaders and inspire the next generation of leaders, theNEA published the second report in the series, Insights from
Leaders in Nuclear Energy, building on the first interview
held with the Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman
Fuketa in 2018. This second report highlights the priorities,
challenges and career highlights of Hans Wanner, DirectorGeneral of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate(ENSI) and Mike Harrison, Chief Nuclear Officer at Électricitéde France (EDF) Energy, United Kingdom. The interview
was conducted as part of the first joint NEA-IAEA-WANO
workshop on Human Capital, held on 5 June 2019 at the
NEA offices in France. This workshop also presented
the challenges and best practices that help to ensure thecontinued high level of safe operations of nuclear power
plants, as well as how to attract, train and retain the next
generation of nuclear workers.

The forum concept was presented at the annual
Rosatom Technical Academy Safety Culture School held
in St Petersburg, Russia in October 2019, as Russia isplanning to host such a forum in the future. Other potential
host countries include Canada, Switzerland and the United
Kingdom. The series of workshops will contribute to building
a suite of CSSCF reports.

Country-Specific Safety Culture
Forum
Continuing the success of the NEA’s first-of-its-kind CSSCF
held in Sweden in 2018, the NEA, in collaboration with
WANO, held a second forum in Finland in March 2019. The
forum raises awareness of potential safety culture challenges
related to the national context, with the objective of helping
organisations maintain a healthy safety culture for the safe
operations of nuclear installations and for effective regulatory
activities. The CSSCF Finland was hosted by the Radiation
and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland (STUK) in Helsinki.
It brought together over 60 experts from the Finnish nuclear
community and international observers from Japan, Korea,
Russia, South Africa and the United States, representing
the industry and regulatory organisations. The forum wasa culmination of data-capturing exercises and analysis ofFinnish national attributes that were embedded in a technical42 | NEA Annual Report 2019

Human and organisational factors
The NEA Working Group on Human and Organisational
Factors (WGHOF) focuses on improving the understanding
and treatment of human and organisational factors within
the nuclear industry, with the goal to support the continued
safety performance of nuclear installations and improve theeffectiveness of regulatory practices in member countries.
In 2019, the group began collecting information from
nuclear power plant operators on lessons learnt from theimplementation of mitigation measures following the
Fukushima Daiichi accident. The aim is to improve capabilities
in the face of extreme external events and severe accidents.
The information will be combined with actions taken by the
nuclear regulatory organisations, to form a catalogue ofhuman and organisational lessons learnt thereby facilitating
and accelerating the implementation of mitigation measures.
In the margins of the 2019 biannual plenary meetings,
WGHOF members held two mini-workshops in 2019 toadvance its work on human and organisational performance.
The overall goal is to increase the general understandingof human and organisational factors and demonstrate
the advantages of addressing such concepts. A reportwill be produced that will include a model of the dynamic
interactions between human, technical and organisational
factors as well as case studies that show practical ways ofapplying a systemic approach to safety.
The group published the report entitled Multi-Stage
Validation of Nuclear Power Plant Control Room Designs andNEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Modifications in November 2019. This document describes
the approach and the rationale for validating systems througha series of successive, co-ordinated validation activities
that have the potential to reduce the risks involved in thedesign process. Such an approach can also increase theeffectiveness of, and efficiencies in, the validation process,as well as overall confidence in the results. The objective isto provide a common reference for future dialogue, researchand development concerning the multi-stage validation
approach, and ultimately to support the safe operation of
nuclear power plants worldwide.
To assist countries facing early or unplanned phaseout of nuclear power plants, the WGHOF progressed indeveloping a report on prioritised organisational capabilities
for all phases of decommissioning. With input from theformer NEA Working Party on Decommissioning andDismantling (WPDD), the following themes related to humanand organisational factors during decommissioning havebeen identified: competence, socio-economic capabilities,
leadership and regulation, asset management, culture andmotivation, and project management. The report will provide
methods and guidance on how these capabilities should be
dealt with in operating organisations and emphasise thesystemic approach based on experience from organisations
with experience in decommissioning.
The WGHOF is collaborating with the NEA Working Groupon Risk Assessment (WGRISK) to examine human reliability
assessments in external events and with the NEA Working
Group on the Regulation of New Reactors (WGRNR) on
governance of new build operations.

Forum on Stakeholder Confidence
The NEA Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) wasestablished by the NEA Radioactive Waste Management
Committee (RWMC) in the year 2000 and has been
managed by the Division of Radiological Protection and
Human Aspects of Nuclear Safety (RP-HANS) since2015. It recently expanded its scope to support the NEA

Committee on Decommissioning and Legacy Management(CDLM) while continuing to support the RWMC. It fosters
learning about stakeholder dialogue and ways to develop
shared confidence, informed consent and acceptance ofradioactive waste management solutions. Government policy
and regulatory officials, R&D specialists, implementers,
and industry representatives from NEA member countries
gather annually in the FSC to analyse, document and provide
recommendations on today’s and tomorrow’s processes forembedding waste management programmes into a sociopolitical decision-making context. The FSC also organises
national workshops to bring together all national stakeholders
to provide a neutral ground for discussion dialogue andadvancement of knowledge on long-term radioactive
waste management.
The FSC held its 20th meeting during the week of
7 October 2019 and advanced its ongoing work on finalising
its forthcoming report, entitled Dialogue in the Long-termManagement of Radioactive Waste. Group members
continued to focus on intergenerational discussions andformed a task group to gather specific information on
the current methods used in order to engage younger
stakeholders. They discussed preliminary outcomes from therecently-held NEA Workshop on Stakeholder Involvement:
Risk Communication, and decided to continue to advancetheir work in this area. In tandem with this meeting, thegroup also held a joint workshop with the IGSC on Managing
Uncertainty in Siting and Implementation – Creating a
Dialogue between Science and Society. The FSC and the
IGSC are considering organising a third joint workshop
in 2021.

Public communication andstakeholder involvement
Building on the January 2017 NEA Workshop on Stakeholder
Involvement, the NEA held a second workshop on
24-26 September 2019. Led by the CRPPH and supportedby the WGPC, the three-day workshop focused on risk

The second “Country-Specific Safety Culture Forum” March 2019, Helsinki, Finland.

43International Mentoring Workshop in Science,
Engineering and Decommissioning,
2-3 August 2019, Fukushima, Japan.

NEA International Mentoring Workshop in Science andEngineering at the National Research Nuclear University
in Moscow, Russia on 2 October 2019.

communication and how to create dialogue towards ashared understanding of radiological risks. It involved all
NEA standing technical committees, their subsidiary bodies
and stakeholders, and included representatives of civilsociety. Over 150 participants from 30 countries exchanged
on common challenges and considered proven practices
and new approaches to increase the effectiveness of risk
communication activities. To ensure views on risk and risk
communication of the general public were considered,
the results of a public survey developed by the WGPC
were shared with the workshop participants. A workshop
report will be published in 2020, with initial outcomes
highlighting the need to better leverage the power of social
media, to engage with young people and to build trust withstakeholders.
The WGPC provides a forum for nuclear regulatoryorganisation communicators to exchange information,
experiences and practices. It also aims to exchange views
regarding the policies of nuclear regulatory organisationsin the area of public communication and identify waysof promoting efficient collaboration. Recognising thatsocial media has become a major source of information
for the general public, the group conducted a survey ofits members to find out how each organisation is using
the various platforms available to inform and engage with
their stakeholders. Members also submitted case studies
showcasing their use of tools such as Twitter, YouTube,and Facebook. The outcomes were captured in a reporton the evolving use of social media as a communication
tool published in 2019. This report is an update to nuclear
regulatory organisations, the internet and social media: The
What, How and Why of Their Use as Communication Tools
published in 2014. Additionally, the group held a special
meeting on 27 September 2019 to discuss the outcomes ofthe Workshop on Stakeholder Involvement held that same
week. WGPC members made extensive contributions to thesuccess of the workshop and played key roles throughout
by facilitating case study dialogues on various prevailing
nuclear circumstances. At the special meeting, the groupexplored several topics to increase the effectiveness ofrisk communication activities, including building trust withstakeholders and training technical experts to communicatecomplex information to the public.

44 | NEA Annual Report 2019

International Mentoring Workshops
in Science and Engineering
As part of its overall strategy and mission, the NEA iscommitted to supporting its members in their efforts tosecure qualified human resources, nuclear skills capability
building and the development of a new generation of nuclear
experts. Since the first workshop in 2017, two more were
held in 2018 and three in 2019 in Japan, Russia and Spain.
The Joshikai in Fukushima for Future Scientists: NEA
International Mentoring Workshop in Science, Engineeringand Decommissioning was held on 3-4 August 2019 inFukushima, Japan in co-operation with the Nuclear Damage
Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation(NDF). The workshop brought together 39 Japanese female
high school and junior high school students, as well asfour female high school and one college students from the
US with three highly accomplished women scientists andengineers from Japan and three from other NEA member
countries, including Ms Haidy Tadros, Chair of the NEA
Committee on Decommissioning and Legacy Management(CDLM).
Two additional NEA mentoring workshops were heldon 24 September 2019 in Vigo, Spain and on 2 October
2019 in Moscow, Russia. The Russian event was organisedin collaboration with Rosatom and hosted at the National
Research Nuclear University. It brought together 40 female
university students from Russia and four women leaders,
including Laurie Swami, President and CEO of the Canadian
Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). The
NEA stands ready to support more International Mentoring
Workshops in both NEA and partner countries.

Contact:

Yeonhee HahHead, Division of Radiological Protectionand Human Aspects of Nuclear Safety+33 (0)1 73 21 29 30
yeonhee.hah@oecd-nea.org

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights

RadiologicalProtection
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to assist member
countries in the regulation, implementation and further
development of the system of radiological protection
by identifying and effectively addressing conceptual,scientific, policy, regulatory, operational and societal
issues. The staff works closely with the Committee onRadiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH).

The second edition of the International
Radiological Protection School (IRPS) was
held from 19-23 August 2019, hosted again by
Stockholm University in cooperation with theSwedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM).
The High-level Group for Low-Dose Research(HLG-LDR) held its first meeting in June 2019,agreeing on first steps to reach its objectiveof achieving global coordination of research,
including investigating co-operation approacheswith chemical toxicological research co-ordinatedthrough the OECD “Adverse Outcome Pathway”
programme.
The Expert Group on the Dose Limit for theLens of the Eye (EGDLE) began work in July 2019,focusing the implementation of the International
Commission on Radiological Protection’s (ICRP)
revised equivalent dose limit for the lens of theeye for occupational exposures in the medical
field or in the industry.
The Expert Group on Non-radiological Public
Health Aspects of Radiation Emergency Planningand Response (EGNR) began work in November
2019, to develop recommendations and practical
tools to address mental health and psychosocial
support issues in emergency situations.
At its march 2019 meeting, the Committee onRadiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH)
agreed to study how and why many optimisation
processes result in minimising public and worker
doses and to organise a workshop on this topic.
Within the framework of the Information
System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE), one As
Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) symposium and a regional symposium were held.

Supporting future leaders in the fieldof radiological protection
The second NEA International Radiological Protection
School (IRPS-2), took place from 1923 August 2019 at
Stockholm University in Sweden. The school’s objective wasto provide mid-career radiological protection (RP) experts
with an understanding of the “spirit” of the RP system.
International experts presented the nuances, history andbetween-the-lines meanings of international guidance andworking experience, that will allow tomorrow’s radiologicalprotection leaders to appropriately apply the RP system toaddress current and future radiological circumstances. A totalof 33 participants from 15 countries took part in the course,which evolved compared to the first edition. In order to allow
more time for discussion, the number of topics presented
was reduced. In addition, significant emphasis was placed onpresenting and discussing specific case studies, to illustratespecific nuances of the RP system, and to allow lecturers tomore directly engage with participants.

Concern over the availability of qualified RP experts inthe coming decade continues to be an issue for regulatory
and industrial organisations. How radiological protection
experience and knowledge can be managed is the key issue
that drove the CRPPH to reinforce the relationship with (i)the International Radiological Protection Association (IRPA),
the Platform on European Training and Education in Radiation
Protection (EUTERP) and the Association of the Heads ofthe European Radiological Protection Competent Authorities(HERCA), regarding the construction of a RP careerframework and (ii) the ICRP regarding educational aspects.
The CRPPH will be working with these organisations, inparticular during the IRPA-15 Congress, being held in Seoul,
Korea on 18-22 January 2021.

45

The International Radiological Protection School (IRPS)
held from 19 to 23 August 2019 at Stockholm University in Sweden.

Low dose effects of radiological
exposure

New ICRP equivalent dose limits
for the lens of the eye

A key radiological protection research area addresses theneed to improve our understanding of radiological healthrisks that might be caused by exposure to low radiation
doses, i.e. for doses below to far below ca. 100 millisieverts(mSv). Given the importance placed on such research by
government funding organisations, and recognising theenormous amount of research done and continuing in thisarea across the globe, while noting ongoing efforts toeffectively collaborate and co-ordinate research, it is felt thatthe global nature of ongoing work merits consideration ofsome level of global co-ordination. To achieve this, the Highlevel Group on Low Dose Research (HLG-LDR) has been
formed under the CRPPH to create a network of low-dose
effect research funding and implementation organisations.
The HLG-LDR met in June and December 2019 to develop
a framework for operation, and identified tools needed toaccomplish co-ordination. Reducing uncertainty in low-dose
effects should help to better structure and size radiologicalprotection decisions.

Exposure to ionising radiation to the lens of the eye is aknown risk factor for lens opacification, potentially leading
to a cataract. To prevent this effect, and, as more scientific
data becomes available, the occupational and publiclens dose limits have undergone several revisions in the
ICRP publications since 1954. During the past decade,epidemiological findings and animal studies have shown thattissue reactions for the lens of the eye have dose thresholds
ca. 0.5 Gray (Gy), and might be caused by acute or chronic
exposure. As a consequence, for occupational exposuresin planned situations the ICRP recommended in 2012 adecrease in the equivalent dose limit for the lens of theeye from 150 mSv per year to 20 mSv in a year, averaged
over defined five-year periods (i.e. 100 mSv/5 years), withno single year exceeding 50 mSv. This change may havea strong impact on the practices among the radiologicalprotection community, especially after the incorporationof the recommendation into both the international and theEuratom Basic Safety Standards. In this context, the Expert
Group on the Dose Limit to the Lens of the Eye (EGDLE)
started its programme of work in July 2019, with the aim
to provide an opportunity for regulators and stakeholders,both from nuclear and non-nuclear communities, to sharesuccesses and challenges in the practical implementation of
the ICRP’s recommended dose limit for the lens of the eye.
The EGDLE will survey nuclear and non-nuclear regulatory
bodies in NEA member countries and produce a report on
their practical experiences.

Although radiological protection decisions are informedby science, they are taken based on judgements. However,uncertainty can tend to push such judgements to beconservative. For example, a clean-up activity could: 1)
leave no or very little contamination, causing significant
environmental disruption, and resulting in virtually no publicradiation exposure; rather than 2) leave somewhat higher
levels of contamination with little environmental disruption,and resulting in a very small dose with an unmeasurable
effect on public health. To better understand wherechoices of actions may tend towards being objectively
and significantly conservative, and to share experienceof avoiding extremes, the CRPPH worked to organise aworkshop entitled Optimisation: Rethinking the Art ofReasonable that will be held on 13-15 January, 2020 in
Lisbon, Portugal.

46 | NEA Annual Report 2019

Enhancing preparedness forpost-accident recovery
The area of recovery management has been of interest to the
CRPPH for some time, in particular since the 2011 accident
at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. An aspect of

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

this area that has been identified as needing further practicalguidance is advanced planning for post-accident recovery.
Within this framework, the Expert Group on Recovery
Management (EGRM) was created at the beginning of 2019with the main objective of assisting NEA member countries
to plan and improve their preparedness for recovery by
producing guidance on how to develop a nuclear or radiologicalpost-accident recovery management framework which canbe adapted to national conditions. The deliverable will be ashort, comprehensive and operational generic frameworkfor post-accident recovery. This framework will address aseries of issues at stake for post-accident management,
ranging from food and drinking water management, urban
and environmental decontamination, waste management,balance of radiological and psychosocial effects of decisions,stakeholder involvement, communication processes, etc. In
addition to the content of this framework, the guidance willpropose a process for involving relevant stakeholders in the
preparedness phase with collaborative deliberation on theissues at stake. The shift of roles and responsibilities fromthe emergency phase to the transition phase and on to therecovery phase will also be addressed. During the recovery
phase, governmental management aspects become more
focused on support to affected stakeholders, which requires
preparation in terms of resources and skills.

Non-radiological public healthaspects of emergencies

and integrating non-radiological public health aspects ofradiation exposures during emergencies.
Health impairment due to a nuclear or radiological accident
always includes impairments attributable to both ionisingradiation and non-radiological effects, such as psychosocialand societal impairments. As seen from the Chernobyl and
Fukushima accidents, the latter had a significant socioeconomic impact on the affected communities. It is unclear
how these aspects could be included in a quantitative
fashion in considerations at the preparedness stage and indecision-making during an emergency. The Expert Groupon Non-radiological Public Health Aspects of Radiation
Emergency Planning and Response (EGNR) began work in
November 2019, to reflect on ways to consider the psychosocio and societal impact of protective actions, mitigate
them and deliver guidance to assist emergency management
decision makers. This work will build upon the World HealthOrganization’s (WHO) guidance on a policy frameworkfor Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) inradiological and nuclear emergencies currently in preparation,
and an international workshop co-organised by the German
Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), the NEA and the
WHO in Munich, Germany on 18-20 March 2020. The vision
is that involving all stakeholder categories in an “all-hazards”
approach will guarantee that the decision-making processdelivers the best holistic protective actions throughout the
emergency cycle.

For more than two decades, the International Nuclear
Emergency Exercise (INEX) series, organised under the NEA
Working Party on Nuclear Emergency Matters (WPNEM),
has proven successful in testing, investigating and improving
national and international response arrangements fornuclear accidents and radiological emergencies. Buildingon the INEX-5 outcomes and on the feedback gained fromthe collection and analysis of emergency management
experience from non-nuclear events, the WPNEM approvedin 2019 a new Programme of Work for the period 2019-2021.
As such, activities addressing nuclear emergency matters
aim at assisting NEA members to improve international
co-ordination and communication, information exchange,building an all-hazards approach to emergency management,

Contact:

Yeonhee HahHead, Division of Radiological Protectionand Human Aspects of Nuclear Safety+33 (0)1 73 21 29 30
yeonhee.hah@oecd-nea.org

INEX-1

INEX-2

INEX-2000

INEX-3

INEX-4

INEX-5

Early phase /communication /decision-making process
in national responses /food safety / emergency
assistance

Decision making in
uncertain conditions / realtime communications /public and media
interactions

Monitoring and data
management strategies fornuclear emergencies /international co-ordination /aspects of Conventions on
Third Party Liability

Consequence management/ long-term issues /decision making in themedium and longer term

Post-crisis emergency
management / response towidespread radiologicalcontamination of theurban environment

Notification andcommunication aspects /transboundary aspects /interfaces / identifying andobtaining resources

47

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Joint Project

NEA
NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY

ISOE
Information System on Occupational Exposure

The Information System on Occupational Exposure
Since its creation in 1992, theInformation System on Occupational
Exposure (ISOE), sponsored jointly
by the NEA and the IAEA, has been
facilitating the exchange of data,
analysis, experience and lessons
learnt in occupational radiologicalprotection (RP) at nuclear power plants
worldwide. It maintains the world’s
largest occupational exposure databaseand a network of utility and regulatory
authority RP experts.
At the end of 2019, the ISOE
programme included 76 utilities
and 28 regulatory authorities from
31 participating countries. The ISOE
programme operates in a decentralisedmanner. Decisions and overall direction
are provided by the ISOE Management
Board, composed of representatives
from utilities and regulatory authorities
from all participating countries.
The ISOE Bureau, elected by theManagement Board, guides ISOE andSecretariat work between Management
Board meetings. Both are supported by
the joint NEA/IAEA Secretariat. FourISOE Technical Centres (Asia, Europe,
North America and other non-NEA
member countries served by the IAEA)

48 | NEA Annual Report 2019serve the programme’s day-to-day
technical operations and are contact
points for the transfer of informationfrom and to participants. A national coordinator in each country provides alink between ISOE participants and theISOE programme. Specialised working
and expert groups are created on an
as-needed basis by the Management
Board to support the goals of the ISOE
on specific topics. There is currently
one active working group: the Working
Group on Radiological Protection
Aspects of Decommissioning Activities
at Nuclear Power Plants (WGDECOM).
The ISOE occupational exposure
database contains information on
occupational exposure informationfor 347 operating units and 55 units
in cold shutdown or at some stage ofdecommissioning in 31 countries, thus
covering about 80% of the world’s
operating commercial power reactors.
The ISOE database, publications,benchmarking visits and annual
symposia, along with the ISOE Network
website, facilitate the exchange among
participants of operational experienceand lessons learnt in the optimisationof occupational radiological protection.

In 2019, the ISOE programme
continued to concentrate on theexchange of data, analysis, goodpractices and experience in the areaof occupational exposure reduction at
nuclear power plants, and on improving
the quality of its occupational exposure
database.
Key outcomes of work during 2019
include the collection and integration of2018 data into the ISOE database andthe publication of ISOE country reports
for 2018, the publication of a new ISOE
information sheet, and the organisationof two benchmarking visits.
The ISOE programme organised
an International ALARA Symposiumin Beijing (China) in October 2019 andthe North American Regional ISOE
Symposium in Key West (United States)
in January 2019. These symposia serveas important venues for utilities tomeet in an international setting.

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights

Radioactive Waste
Management
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to assist member
countries in the development of safe, sustainable
and broadly acceptable strategies for the long-term
management of all types of radioactive waste andspent fuel, and to provide governments and otherrelevant stakeholders with authoritative, reliable
information on the political, strategic and regulatory
aspects of decommissioning nuclear installations.

Radioactive
2019

gement andWaste Manag

Decommissionin

Records,

Preservateionanofd Memory

Knowledg
tions
ross Genera(RK&M) Ac
of
Final Reportiativethe RK&M Init

NEA

Knowledge management related
activities
In early 2019, the NEA Radioactive Waste Management
Committee (RWMC) held a Workshop on Information,
Data and Knowledge Management (IDKM) to present theoutcomes of three NEA initiatives: Preservation of Records,
Knowledge and Memory Across Generations (RK&M), theRadioactive Waste Repository Metadata Management(RepMet), and the Expert Group on Waste Inventorying andReporting Methodology (EGIRM). The workshop, which
attracted more than 70 participants, explored not only thetechnical aspects of IDKM in different scientific communities(e.g. high energy physics, geoscience and aerospace), butalso the social and human aspects of IDKM (e.g. societal
involvement and semiotics). During this workshop, the

The NEA held the Workshop on Information,
Data and Knowledge Management (IDKM)
on 22-24 January 2019. The workshop, which
attracted more than 70 participants, explored not
only the technical aspects of IDKM in different
scientific communities but also the social andhuman aspects of IDKM.
The NEA organised a workshop on The
Application of Remote and Robotic Systems(RRS) in Nuclear Backend activities, hosted by
the French Alternative Energies and Atomic
Energy Commission (CEA) in Marcoule, France
on 3031 January 2019. The workshop participants
expressed their support for the establishmentof a relevant NEA initiative and their interest in
participating.
The first Roundtable on Developing Final
Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste andSpent Nuclear Fuel took place on 14 October
2019 and focused on the role of government insupporting international co-operation, strategic
stakeholder engagement, and technologicalcapabilities. The second roundtable discussion
is currently planned for February 2020. A final
report summarising the key outcomes of the two
discussions is envisaged in 2020.
The NEA Expert Group on the Applicationof Robotics and Remote Systems in the Nuclear
Back-end (EGRRS) held its kick-off meeting on
9-10 December 2019 with 40 experts representing
14 member countries and 3 internationalorganisations.
The NEA published the following reports
in 2019: Preservation of Records, Knowledge
and Memory (RK&M) Across Generations: Final
Report of the RK&M Initiative; and International
Features, Events and Processes (IFEP) List for
Deep Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste.

RWMC sought recommendations from the participants forthe definition and planning of future activities in the area of
IDKM. In order to support the discussions, the workshop
included presentations on current IDKM activities in themost advanced nuclear countries, identifying the current
needs, challenges and expectations. In March, the committee
approved a new initiative to continue the work in developing
tools for IDKM. In 2019 and beyond, the IDKM initiative
will focus on four main areas: the safety case, knowledge
management, archiving, and awareness preservation.

Regulators’ Forum
In 2019, the Regulators’ Forum (RF) continued in its role
supporting the two NEA Technical Committees involved inback-end activities of the nuclear fuel cycle, the Committee

49Symposium on Decommissioning,
Reconstruction, Rehabilitation andFood Safety: Rebuilding Post-Accident
Confidence co-organised by Japanese
METI and MAFF.

on Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Legacy
Management (CDLM) and the RWMC. At its annual plenary
meeting in March 2019, RF members confirmed this role
as well as holding a topical discussion on challenges inregulating the management of very low-level waste. A
report entitled Results from the RWMC Regulator’s Forum(RF) Survey on Gaining and Maintaining Competencies for
the Regulator was released in October 2019. In addressing
the wide regulatory aspects of the back-end activities, theRF is organising a Competency Management workshop
focusing on challenges faced by nuclear regulators in areasof radioactive waste management, nuclear decommissioning
and nuclear legacy management in 2020. This workshop
also aims to discuss the key competency of regulators inensuring the safety of radioactive waste disposal and nuclear
decommissioning projects.

Nuclear back-end activities
The NEA organised a workshop on The Application of
Remote and Robotic Systems (RRS) in Nuclear Back-end
activities, hosted by the French Alternative Energies andAtomic Energy Commission (CEA) in Marcoule, France on
30-31 January 2019. The workshop was attended by morethan 60 experts from 17 countries (including non-member
countries China and Israel), representing RRS developers,
suppliers, implementers, regulators and decision makers.
The workshop facilitated an exchange of information among
the interested parties and helped them explore potential
joint activities to support the development and applicationof RRS in back-end activities. The workshop participants
expressed their support for the establishment of a relevant
NEA initiative and their interest in participating.
The NEA is co-organising an international roundtablediscussion on Developing Final Disposal of High-Level
Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel with theJapanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)
and the United States Department of Energy (DOE). The
first Roundtable on Developing Final Disposal of High-Level
Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel took place on
14 October 2019 and focused on the role of government insupporting international co-operation, strategic stakeholder

50 | NEA Annual Report 2019engagement, and technological capabilities. The second
roundtable discussion is planned for February 2020. A
final report summarising the key outcomes of the two
discussions is envisaged in 2020.The objective is to discuss
among ministerial-level policy makers ways to strengtheninternational co-operation and to advance development of
final disposal solutions for radioactive waste and spent fuel,harmonising disposal policies and examining potential bi- or
multilateral collaborations among interested countries.

The safety case for geologicaldisposal
The NEA Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSC)
agreed in 2019 to assist the RWMC in organising a Safety
Case workshop on developing safety cases for storage anddisposal facilities. The workshop is currently planned for mid2020 and has two key objectives: (i) to better understand theneeds of RWMC member organisations in developing robust
safety cases for different disposal options; and (ii) to prioritise
the identified needs using existing resources and expertise.
The IGSC Crystalline Club conducted an R&D statusreview on the characterisation of crystalline rocks in hostinga DGR for long-lived radioactive waste. The expert group
anticipates publishing this review report in 2020.
The Clay Club has made progress in its study of the porewater properties in clay formation at the University of Bern,
Switzerland – the CLAYWAT Project. More detailed resultsof this project will be published in 2020.
The NEA Expert Group on Operational Safety (EGOS)
continued to work on fire risk management in undergroundfacilities, transportation and emplacement technologies,
waste acceptance criteria and operational hazard databases.
In July 2019, the NEA published the “International
Features, Events and Processes (IFEP) List for the Deep
Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste”. The IFEP,
which is a comprehensive and structured list of genericfeatures, events and processes (FEPs), is often used todevelop methodologies for the assessment of the postclosure safety of deep geological repositories (DGR) forHigh Level Radioactive Storage andTreatment Building.
HABOG COVRA, Netherlands

the disposal of radioactive waste. It is intended to support
national programmes in the production of their safety cases
through the provision of a comprehensive and internationallyaccepted list of factors that may need to be consideredwhen assessing the safety of DGRs, thereby enhancing
stakeholder confidence. The list is available for download,
and also accessible through a new online FEP Databasewhich allows radioactive waste management organisations
to store project-specific FEP lists relating to their own
individual concepts and programmes.

Fukushima Daiichi waste
management and decommissioning

The Thermochemical Database
Project
The Thermochemical Database (TDB) Project was initiatedin 1984 as a joint activity of the NEA Data Bank and the
RWMC. The project fulfils the need for a high-quality
database for modelling purposes in the safety analyses ofradioactive waste repositories. Implementation of the newsoftware designed and completed in 2016 is still ongoing.
The TDB project has produced 13 volumes of internationallyrecognised and quality-assured thermodynamic data. For
further information on the TDB project and for more details
on activities in 2019, see page 63.

Since its establishment in 2018, the Expert Group on
Characterisation Methodology on Unconventional andLegacy Waste (EGCUL) has discussed strategic approaches
to characterising large amounts of low-level radioactive
waste with unknown properties. The EGCUL is currently
planning a workshop in 2020 to discuss the outcome of
its report, a collection of case studies from France, Japan,
Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Fostering dialogue between
regulators and implementers
Building constructive dialogue between regulators andimplementers in the development disposal solutions forradioactive waste has been a concern of the RWMC since2016. A new expert group was formed in March 2019 with theaim of developing best practices for structuring stakeholderinteractions in the decision-making process of managing
radioactive waste. The Expert Group on Building Constructive
Dialogues Between Regulators and Implementers in
Developing Disposal Solutions for Radioactive Waste (RIDD)
will build on existing national experiences and standards
recommended by international organisations such as
the NEA, IAEA, the European Commission (EC), and theInternational Commission on Radiological Protection ICRP todeliver guiding principles in this area.

Contact:

Rebecca Tadesse
Head, Division of Radioactive Waste
Management and Decommissioning+33 (0)1 73 21 28 40
rebecca.tadesse@oecd-nea.org

51

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights

Decommissioningof Nuclear
Installations andLegacy Management
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to foster
international co-operation to develop the scientific,
technological and legal bases required for thesafe and economical decommissioning of nuclear
facilities and the management of legacy sites.

gement ande Waste Mana

Radioactiv
2019

On 13 December 2019 the NEA held an Ad Hoc
Meeting on the Commonalities and Specificities
bet ween Dec ommis sioning and Legac yManagement. Meeting participants identified priority common issues and noted these in a draft
mandate for a potential new expert group to beestablished under the CDLM.
The CDLM held an Ad Hoc Meeting of
Costing Experts on 9-11 September 2019 with theobjective to support the ongoing developmentof the CDLM Programme of Work for costing
decommissioning and legacy management.
The main conclusions from this meeting andparticipant recommendations will be presented
to the CDLM Bureau for consideration to create anexpert group on this topic.
The NEA report, Cost Benchmarking for
Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning, waspublished in May 2019.

sioning

Decommisarkingnchm
Cost Beear Powerfor Nucl
ing
mmission
Plant Deco

NEA

Fine-tuning the CDLM Programmeof Work
The newest NEA standing technical committee, theCommittee on Decommissioning of Nuclear Installationsand Legacy Management (CDLM) was established in
April 2018. Comprised of policy developers and technicalexperts representing regulatory bodies and implementers,
the committee was formed to facilitate comprehensive
exchanges of national experiences and lessons learnt in thefield. It also provides a platform for NEA member countries
to advance the state of the art in both decommissioning
and legacy management. In 2018, an advisory group held
several meetings to make recommendations to guide the
CDLM in developing and managing its activities. Further tothese recommendations, the CDLM held a series of meetingin 2019 to discuss its Programme of Work.

52 | NEA Annual Report 2019

The Committee on Decommissioning of
Nuclear Installations and Legacy Management(CDLM) held a workshop on its Programme ofWork in January 2019 to assess the high-priority
decommissioning and legacy management
work topics and better understand the needs ofmember countries in this regard. The CDLM held
its first plenary meeting on 21 March 2019.

As part of the Policy Dialogues on Developing
Decommissioning Industry Clusters in Fukushima,
the NEA and the OECD helped co-organise asecond policy dialogue with the government ofJapan, Fukushima Prefecture and the Fukushima
Innovation Coas t Framework Promotion
Organisation (FIPO) on 26-27 September 2019 in
Tokyo, Japan to explore ways to enhance decommissioning capability, improve quality of life andboost local job creation in the Fukushima region
during the decommissioning of the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The NEA report, Challenges in Nuclear andRadiological Legacy Site Management – Towards
a Common Regulatory Framework, was publishedin December 2019.

In 16 January 2019, the NEA held a Workshop on Defining
Issues for the CDLM Programme of Work. The participants
assessed the high-priority decommissioning and legacy
management work topics; discussed the needs of member
countries in this regard; and formulated recommendations on
the content of the CDLM Programme of WorkOn 21 March 2019, the CDLM held its first plenary
meeting and elected its first Chair. The CDLM reviewed
decommissioning and legacy management activities,
discussed future activities and had a topical session on
national understanding of legacy management.
In March 2019, the RWMC and CDLM held their first joint
meeting to review areas of common interest and discuss thework of their common bodies. At the meeting, presentations
were made by other NEA Technical Committees so as to
identify possible areas of common interest and opportunities
of co-operation and joint initiatives. Ad hoc meetings were
held in September 2019 and December 2019 to support theongoing development of the CDLM Programme of Work.

Cost Benchmarking for Nuclear
Power Plant Decommissioning

The NEA and the OECD, together with the government ofJapan, Fukushima Prefecture and the Fukushima Innovation
Coast Framework Promotion Organisation (FIPO), areorganising a series of Policy Dialogues on Developing
Decommissioning Industry Clusters in Fukushima. The aim
is to contribute to the long-term sustainable developmentof the area and local economy. As part of this dialogue
series, the NEA and the OECD co-organised a meetingon 26-27 September 2019 to explore ways to enhance
decommissioning capability, improve quality of life andboost local job creation in the Fukushima region during thedecommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant. Following the two-day meeting, participants also
took part in a Policy Dialogue on Decommissioning Industry
Cluster Development with representatives from SHINSEI, a

Protection

on
Towards a Comm
Framework

Regulatory

Management

Dialogues on Developing
Decommissioning Industry Clusters
in Fukushima

In December 2019, the NEA
published the repor t enti tled Challenges in Nuclear
clear
and Radiological Legacy Site
Challenges inicaNul Le
gacy
and Radiolognt
M a n a g e m e nt – Tow a rd s
me
ge
na
Ma
Site
a Common Regulatory
Framework. As many countries
are dealing with nuclear andradiological legacy sites, managing these sites in an open
and transparent fashion while
NE A
taking into account the viewsof all relevant stakeholders andbuilding confidence in the solutions adopted is an
ongoing challenge. This report provides information on thechallenges and lessons learnt in legacy management andregulation based on practical experience documented in
13 case studies and site visits conducted by the NEA. A
preliminary framework for a stepwise process to help reachan accepted and sustainable end-state is proposed basedon this experience. The complex challenges and interactions among stakeholders in progressing in a harmonised,step-by-step manner are also examined in depth. The reportconcludes with recommendations for future international collaborative work to improve and test the preliminary framework, and to examine and address the complexity of therelevant interactions.
Radiological
2019

Site
Radiological Legacy

An ad hoc meeting of costing experts was held on
9‑11 September 2019 with the objective to support theongoing development of the CDLM programme of workfor costing decommissioning and legacy management. The
meeting was attended by 32 experts, including regulators,
government officials, decommissioning and legacy
management specialists, operators and implementers. The
participants discussed potential costing issues that could
be addressed by the CDLM and identified priorities alongwith possible working arrangements. The main conclusions
from this meeting and participant recommendations were
presented to the CDLM Bureau for consideration to create
an expert group on costing decommissioning and legacy
management.

Legacy management

Nuclear andChallenges in

In May 2019, the NEA published the report entitled Cost
Benchmarking for Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioningin May 2019. The nuclear sector has in recent years beenplacing increasing attention on the need to better understandvariations between cost estimates for the decommissioningof nuclear power plants, as well as the relationship between
estimated and actual costs, and the apparent escalation ofthese costs. Building on previous work by the NEA, this reportexamines approaches and methods for the benchmarkingof nuclear power plant decommissioning costs. Particularfocus is given to identifying key factors, drivers andconstraints to implementing cost benchmarking. These
factors are addressed from a broad range of perspectives
in order to develop a roadmap for implementation thatwill garner sufficiently broad support from a wide base ofinterested stakeholders. The report also identifies a numberof perceived barriers that may impede the implementationof benchmarking for decommissioning. Co-ordinatedefforts and further analysis will be needed to help remove
these barriers.

local nonprofit organisation based in Koriyama, Fukushima.
SHINSEI provides training and job placement assistanceto people with disabilities who were affected by the Great
East Japan Earthquake. The participants also spent time with
evacuees with disabilities to understand the impact of the2011 accident on the current living standards of those whohave special needs. They also took the opportunity to discuss
how to enhance the sustainability of local communities.

On 13 December 2019 the NEA held an Ad Hoc
Meeting on the Commonalities and Specificities between
Decommissioning and Legacy Management. The meeting
was attended by 18 experts from seven NEA member
countries and IAEA that included regulators, government
officials, as well as decommissioning and legacy
management specialists. Taking account of the conclusions
and recommendations from the above-mentioned report,
participants discussed shared areas of work between thedecommissioning and legacy management fields, as wellas those areas that are particular to either. The participants
identified priority common issues and noted these in a draft
mandate that will be presented to the CDLM Bureau forconsideration to create an expert group.

Contact:

Rebecca Tadesse
Head, Division of Radioactive Waste
Management and Decommissioning+33 (0)1 73 21 28 40
rebecca.tadesse@oecd-nea.org

53

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Joint Project
The Co-operative Programme for the Exchange of Scientific and Technical
Information Concerning Nuclear Installation Decommissioning Projects
The NEA Co-operative Programme
for the Exchange of Scientific andTechnical Information Concerning
Nuclear Installation Decommissioning
Projects (CPD) is a joint undertaking
of a limited number of organisations
actively executing or planning thedecommissioning of nuclear facilities.
The objective of the CPD Programme,
launched in 1985, is to exchange andshare information from operational
experience in decommissioning nuclear
installations useful for current andfuture projects. Initially consisting of
10 decommissioning projects in 8 countries, the programme has since grown
to the present 73 projects (43 reactors
and 30 fuel cycle facilities) in 15 NEA
member countries, 2 non-NEA members and the European Commission(EC). The current agreement came into
force on 1 January 2019 and will expire
on 31 December 2023.
Information exchange also ensuresthat best international practice is madewidely available and encourages theapplication of safe, environmentallysound and cost-effective methods inall decommissioning projects. Biannual
meetings of the Technical Advisory
Group (TAG) are held, during which thesite of one of the participating projects
is visited, and positive and less positive
examples of decommissioning experience are openly exchanged for the benefit of all. In May 2019, a site visit took
place at Whiteshell site in Winnipeg,
Canada, where the 66th TAG meeting54 | NEA Annual Report 2019was held. Also, in October 2019, a site
visit took place at Trino NPP as well asat the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in
Ispra, next to Baveno, Italy, where the67th TAG meeting was held.
Increasing decommissioning needs
worldwide have given rise to otherchallenges such as the dismantlingand decontamination of highly contaminated tanks. To address this issue, in
April 2017, the CPD initiated a new task
group in order to exchange and shareexperiences gained among memberson the dismantling of highly contaminated tanks, as well as to evaluate lessons learnt and best practices.
To make use of decommissioning
knowledge and experience accumu-

lated within the CPD, a TAG Knowledge
Base Database that allows CPD members to easily access the CPD reactor
project and fuel facility information was
created on the NEA website. The database continues to develop with moredata from members being added as it
becomes available.
On 13-14 November 2019, the38 th CPD Management Board meeting
was held at the NEA headquarters inParis. It was decided that CPD willdevelop a ten-year anniversary reportto provide a global overview of thedevelopment of the decommissioning
industry, the history of CPD, and theknowledge and insights gained throughthe programme over the past decade.

Trino nuclear power plant, Italy.
Creative Commons

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights
In August 2019, International Co-operation in
Nuclear Data Evaluation: An Extended Summaryof the Collaborative International Evaluated Library
Organisation (CIELO) Pilot Project was published.

Nuclear Science
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to help member countries
identify, collate, develop and disseminate the basic scientificand technical knowledge required to ensure the safe, reliable
and economic operation of current and next generation
nuclear systems. The staff works closely with the Nuclear
Science Committee (NSC) and its expert groups in this area.

Nuclear Scien
ce
2019

I

nternationa
in Nuclear l Co-operation
Data Evalu
ation
An Extended
Collaborati Summary of theveLibrary Org International Evaluat
anisation (CIEed
LO) Pilot Pro
ject

NEA

Reactor physics
INEA work related to reactor physics has been mainly
devoted to the verification and validation of codes to predictboth existing and advanced reactor systems. Expert group
activities cover the fields of reactor fuel performance,
radiation and shielding for reactors, accelerators and fusion
facilities, reactor physics and advanced nuclear systems, aswell as uncertainty analysis.
A benchmark was added to the IRPhE Handbook in 2019
– i.e. the molten salt reactor experiment performed at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (United States) during the 1960s.
The December 2019 edition also saw additional data fromthe Swedish KRITZ research reactor added to the IRPhE
Handbook. This data is particularly well suited to validating
the ability of neutronics codes to predict temperature
feedback. Further reflecting member countries’ growinginterest in molten salt systems, a new benchmark has beenlaunched within the NEA Expert Group on Reactor Physics
and Advanced Nuclear Systems (EGRPANS), with theintent of comparing code predictions in a fluoride-salt hightemperature reactor.

The 2019 editions of the Handbooks issued
by the International Criticality Safety Benchmark
Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and the International
Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation (IRPhE)
Project were released in October and December,respectively.
An Expert Group on Reactor Core ThermalHydraulics (EGRCTH) was approved by the NEA
Working Party on Scientific Issues of Reactor
Systems (WPRS), reflecting member countries’
growing interest in core thermal-hydraulics
studies.
The NEA Technical Review Group for theevaluation of assay data available in version 2 ofthe International Database of Spent Fuel Isotopic
Composition Data (SFCOMPO 2.0) held a kick-off
meeting in March 2019 to review experimental
data and assess uncertainties.
The NEA joint project on the Thermodynamic
Characterisation of Fuel Debris and Fission
Products Based on Scenario Analysis of Severe
Accident Progression at Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Station (TCOFF) completed asecond call for R&D proposals and granted
funding to four organisations.
The 5th International Workshop on Structural
Materials for Innovative Nuclear Systems (SMINS)
was organised by the NEA and held on 8-11 July
2019 in Kyoto, Japan, hosted by Kyoto University
and JAEA in co-operation with IAEA.
The 4th International Workshop on Technology
and Components of Accelerator-Driven Systems(TCADS) was organised by the NEA and held on
14-17 October 2019 in Antwerp, Belgium, hosted
by SCK• CEN.
A w or k s h op on N u c l e ar Ma t e r ial s
Characterisation Techniques was organised by
the NEA at its Headquarters on 11-12 February
2019 to explore the findings of the NEA Nuclear
Innovation 2050 (NI2050) initiative in the area ofmaterials science.
Notable progress was made in theestablishment of a new, post-Halden Framework
for Irradiation Experiments (FIDES): a series ofbilateral meetings and two NEA workshops on the
Introduction to the Multinational NEA Framework
for In-pile Fuel and Material Testing and on
Preparing the Kick-off of FIDES Joint Experimental
Programmes were conducted in 2019.
The NEA Nuclear Education, Skills andTechnology (NEST) Framework entered into
force in February 2019. NEST Management Board
meetings took place in March and September 2019.

55

Simulation of the Advanced Test Reactor
using new CIELO nuclear data files.

U-238 sample and detectors for neutron
capture measurements.
Joint Research Centre, Geel

The NEA Expert Group on Multi-physics Experimental
Data, Benchmarks and Validation (EGMPEBV) explores
the certification of experimental data and benchmark
models, while establishing the processes and proceduresfor using such data, for the validation of multi-physics
modelling and for simulation tools and data. In 2019,
the group held two workshops at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory in the United States and at the Gesellschaft
für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) in Germany. As
part of the expert group’s activities, first-of-a-kind multiphysics benchmarks are being developed to test the novel
modelling and simulation systems that are the subject ofmultiple code development projects in member countries.
Following an agreement with the Russian State Atomic
Energy Corporation, Rosatom, a benchmark using data fromthe Rostov unit 2 VVER-1000 reactor has been specified
and is being distributed to benchmark participants. Thisbenchmark will run in parallel to two other studies using
data from the Studsvik R2 Swedish research reactor andthe Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Watts Bar 1 reactor
in the United States. The latter was established as part ofa US Department of Energy (DOE) project, the Consortium
for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors. Feedback
from participants’ initial simulations in each of these studies
have been used to update benchmark specifications.

Fuel cycle physics and chemistry
Activities in fuel cycle physics and chemistry cover all
aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle from the front end to theback end, and deal with issues arising from various existing
and advanced systems, including fuel cycle scenarios,
innovative fuels and materials, separation chemistry, andwaste disposal and coolant technologies. Over the last
couple of years, experts taking part in the NEA Working Partyon Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle (WPFC) and its expert
groups have consolidated a substantial programme of work,
mainly focusing on advanced fuel cycles and cross-cutting
activities. In 2019, two reports were published on the subjectof experimental facilities for materials research and for theback end of the fuel cycle.
The 5th International Workshop on Structural Materials
for Innovative Nuclear Systems (SMINS) was held in Kyoto,

56 | NEA Annual Report 2019Japan on 8-11 July 2019, co-organised by organised by NEA
and by Kyoto University and hosted by Kyoto University,where 115 participants discussed recent developments in thefield of nuclear materials. The 4th workshop on Technology
and Components of Accelerator-Driven Systems (TCADS)
was organised by the NEA and hosted by SCK• CEN in
Antwerp, Belgium on 14-17 October 2019. The workshop
covered topics related to accelerator-driven systems (ADS)
including accelerators, neutron sources and subcriticalsystems for current facilities and future experimental andpower systems; technology, engineering and research
aspects of the above components; system optimisation for
reducing capital and operational costs and the role of ADS in
advanced fuel cycles.
Notable progress has been made in activities related to
the fuel cycle, in particular with regard to fuel properties forfast reactors in the context of the Expert Group on Innovative
Fuels (EGIF), the development of a database of extractantsfor separation processes led by the Expert Group on Fuel
Recycling Chemistry (EGFRC) and with regard to a scenario
study on the management of transuranic waste. Also underdiscussion are some activities resulting from the NEA
Nuclear Innovation 2050 (NI2050) initiative, in particular thecreation of a potential Joint Project on Advanced Fuel Cycle
and Partitioning and Transmutation, and a taskforce for thequalification of advanced fuels.

Nuclear criticality safety
The Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) Working Party on
Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS) is responsible for theco-ordination of technical activities related to topics such as
criticality excursions analyses, modelling of used nuclear fueldepletion, Monte-Carlo modelling and uncertainty analysis
for criticality safety assessments. The working party alsoco-ordinates and maintains the International Database of
Spent Fuel Isotopic Composition Data (SFCOMPO) and theInternational Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project(ICSBEP).
The Technical Review Group (TRG) for the evaluation of
assay data available in the SFCOMPO 2.0 database held akick-off meeting in March 2019, and three evaluations werereported.

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

The annual ICSBEP TRG meeting was held at NEA offices
on 21-22 October 2019. Seven evaluations underwent
technical review and will be incorporated into the next versionof the ICSBEP Handbook upon resolution of comments.
The 2019 edition of the ICSBEP Handbook was releasedin October 2019, featuring two highly enriched uranium
subcritical experimental benchmarks. These benchmarks
will serve to validate computational methods and analysis in
the burgeoning area of subcritical system physics. Updates
were made to the accompanying ICSBEP Database (DICE).
The annual WPNCS meetings were held at NEA offices
on 23-27 September 2019. Two subgroups, both with a oneyear scope of work, were disbanded, and the establishmentof a new subgroup was approved to define a benchmark on
sensitivity/uncertainty analysis for used fuel inventory.
Organised by the French Institute for RadiologicalProtection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) under the auspices of
the NEA, the 11th edition of the quadrennial International
Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC) was heldon 15-20 September 2019 in Paris, with 300 participating
experts. The preservation and development of experimental
capacities and international collaboration were highlighted
during the conference as the main priorities for maintaining
the highest standard of safety throughout all aspects of thenuclear fuel cycle. These topics were discussed further
during the WPNCS meetings and will be the focus of a new
subgroup. A workshop was held in conjunction with the ICNC
on NEA databases and tools concerning nuclear criticality
safety. The workshop featured lectures on the handbook
and evaluation process, as well as hands-on training on the
ICSBEP Database (DICE), the Nuclear Data Sensitivity Tool
(NDaST) and SFCOMPO 2.0.

Materials science
The NSC Working Party on Multi-scale Modelling of Fuels
and Structural Materials for Nuclear Systems (WPMM) is aninternational forum for information exchange and discussion
focusing on the review, evaluation and promotion of multi-

scale modelling and simulation techniques applied to theresearch and development of materials for nuclear systems.
The WPMM has consolidated a comprehensive programmeof work on nuclear fuels and structural materials through theyears, focusing on advanced modelling, advanced materials
research, and database creation and maintenance.
The annual meeting of the WPMM and its expert groups
was held on 14-16 May 2019 at NEA Headquarters. Following
recent trends in modelling approaches, the WPMM is
broadening its field of expertise to include data-driven model
generation and validation.
The WPMM Expert Group on Multi-scale Modelling
Methods (EGMM) completed a state-of-the-art report thatprovides a broad and thorough review of the models and thecomputer simulation methods employed at different lengths
and time scales to capture the properties of nuclear materials(both fuels and structural materials ). The publication of thereport is expected in May 2020.
A workshop on Nuclear Materials Characterisation
Techniques was organised on 1112 February 2019 as afollow-up to the orientation given by the NI2050 initiativeof the NEA Committee for Technical and Economic Studies
on Nuclear Energy Development and the Fuel Cycle(NDC). The objective of the workshop was to organise aco-ordinated effort aimed at defining, by expert consensus,
best practices and recommendations on the microstructuralcharacterisation of structural materials and fuels. A seriesof follow-up, technique-specific meetings were organised
during the last quarter of 2019 to discuss experimental issues(analysis methods, data treatment algorithms, the existenceof potential artefacts, etc.), and calling for a consensus tobe reached among researchers in terms of an experimental
approach.
In addition, the NEA Division of Nuclear Science, in
co-ordination with the NEA Division of Nuclear Safety,
Technology and Regulation and the Karlsruhe Instituteof Technology (KIT), is promoting the development of anexperimental programme to test accident-tolerant fuelcladdings at the Quench facility in KIT. The tests would

The Institut Laue-Langevin reactor
in Genoble, France.
CEA, France57

Loading view of MASURCA reactor from bottom.

focus on chromium (Cr)-coated cladding, and the objective
would be to test the behaviour of such materials in loss-ofcoolant accidents (LOCA) and severe accident conditions,and to demonstrate whether these designs would provide
improved performances with respect to the zirconium (Zr)alloy-based claddings.

Nuclear data
The NSC Working Party on International Nuclear Data
Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC) endorsed the results of
two subgroups, including the International Co-operationin Nuclear Data Evaluation: An Extended Summary of the
Collaborative International Evaluated Library Organisation(CIELO) Pilot Project, as well as a report focusing on new
methods in the evaluation of thermal scattering kernels. The
CIELO project resulted in the production of re-evaluateduranium, plutonium, iron, oxygen and hydrogen isotopes,with improvements ensuing from modern experiments, newmodelling capabilities, more complete uncertainty analysis
and refined validation against integral experiments. WPEC
Subgroup 38 and the Expert Group on the Recommended
Definition of a General Nuclear Database Structure (EGGNDS)
have finalised the specifications for the first international
nuclear data format (GNDS version 1.9). This format will
replace the American Evaluated Nuclear Data File or the
ENDF-6 file format (the de facto standard) designed for use
with computer punch card readers, with a modern, extensible
structure based on 21st century computing paradigms. The
EGGNDS will continue to update the specifications, directlyinterfacing with other WPEC subgroups to draft requirements
for extensions to the continuously evolving GNDS standard.
Following the success of the WPEC Subgroup 42 on
thermal scattering data, a new subgroup (Subgroup 48)
has been established to address new materials and create
first-of-a-kind uncertainty evaluations, including correlations.
The subgroup will work with the EGGNDS to create thenecessary standard formats that will be adopted in the next
generation of nuclear data libraries. With the launch of the
NEA GitLab in late 2018, the WPEC also launched a new
subgroup (Subgroup 49) to prototype the use of version
control and continuous integration frameworks so as tocreate reproducible evaluations, with the aim of providing
quality assurance in the evaluation of nuclear data libraries.
This system will contain the full evaluation datasets and tools,
including basic nuclear physics models and experimental
data. It will be directly linked to verification and validation
pipelines, including the NDaST, which leverages sensitivity
profiles to compute results on thousands of evaluatedbenchmarks from NEA databases.
The WPEC programme of work now includes a review
of integral experiments required for the validation of nuclear
data. A subgroup created in 2018 has been tasked, inparticular, with prioritising experiments from the Shielding
Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD) to beevaluated under the auspices of the WPRS.
The new NEA GitLab system was implemented tosupport WPEC activities. Collaborative spaces have been

58 | NEA Annual Report 2019

established for multiple groups, including repositories for
data, documentation and code projects. This system offersinteractive version control and management tools, as well
as automated quality assurance processes that will enhance
co-operation between the various groups.

Data preservation and management
The NSC, in co-operation with the NEA Data Bank,
establishes and maintains databases/collections of data
to preserve and evaluate information on criticality safety(ICSBEP), reactor physics (IRPhE), shielding (SINBAD), fuelperformance (International Fuel Performance Experiments[IFPE]) and isotopic composition of spent fuel (SFCOMPO).
In addition, the NDaST includes data on both criticality safety(DICE) and reactor physics (the International Reactor Physics
Handbook Database and Analysis Tool [IDAT]), with accessto features of the nuclear data viewing tool, the Java-based
Nuclear Data Information System (JANIS).
The ICSBEP and IRPhE handbooks have been recognised
as international standards for the conversion of raw
experimental data into high-fidelity benchmarks. Over the
past decades, these handbooks have enabled the nuclear
community to enhance the validation of basic nuclear dataand simulation tools. They serve as gold standards which
other databases strive to emulate, for example SFCOMPO
and SINBAD, co-sponsored by the NEA and the Radiation
Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC).
In 2019, the newly developed Database for International
Fuel Performance Experiments (DATIF) was released for beta
testing to the Expert Group on Reactor Fuel Performance(EGRFP). DATIF will improve accessibility of data within theexisting IFPE collection of documents related to experiments,
which was jointly created by the NEA and International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Databases are one tool being
used to ensure the maximum value and usage of legacy
data collected by the NSC. The International Experimental

Halden reactor hall showing
the rotating floor plate above the cavity
containing the reactor vessel, Norway.
Thor Energy, Norway

Thermal-Hydraulics Systems (TIETHYS) database is anotherexample. Released in 2017, it was extended in 2019 withadditional entries, references and materials, including an
example model development resource for the Loss-of-Fluid
Test facility at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in
the United States, taken from documentation included in
the Standardised Consolidated Calculated and Reference
Experimental Database (SCCRED). The TIETHYS database
will be under the direction of the recently created Expert
Group on Reactor Core Thermal-Hydraulics (EGRCTH).

Education and skills
The NEA recently launched the Nuclear Education, Skills
and Technology (NEST) Framework. Initiated in 2016, andentered into force in February 2019, NEST aims to establish
a multinational and multidisciplinary framework among
partners, including academia, research organisations andindustry. The main objective of NEST is to foster a newgeneration of nuclear experts and leaders by transmitting
practical knowledge and offering hands-on training. Four
NEST projects are now ready to be launched in the areas ofsafety, decommissioning, radioactive waste management
and small modular reactor (SMR) design. More projects
are in preparation, including one on nuclear medicine andradiological protection and three that include experimental
work on research reactors. The latter will provide theeducation component to the post-Halden FIDES.
In order to enhance co-operation and develop synergies
in the field of nuclear education, training and knowledge
management, the NEA is also working closely with theEuropean Commission Joint Research Centre, the European
Nuclear Education Network (ENEN) and with the IAEA on
activities in these areas.
In addition, the NEA Division of Nuclear Science is offeringinternships to two graduate and undergraduate students sothat they can gain first-hand experience in several technicalareas, and in knowledge management and preservation.

Experimental needs
During the year 2019, the NSC continued to co-operatewith the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations(CSNI) to engage all relevant stakeholders in mitigating
the closure of the Halden Boiling Water Reactor througha series of discussions with governments, industry, andsafety and research organisations. With the input gained
from these engagements, the NEA is now establishing
the aforementioned FIDES. As part of this effort, theNEA organised a workshop entitled Introduction to theMultinational NEA Framework for In-pile Fuel and Material
Testing in March 2019. The conclusions from this event andprevious workshops were reported at, and supported by, theNEA Steering Committee in April 2019.
In September 2019, a workshop entitled Preparing the
Kick-off of FIDES Joint Experimental Programme wasconducted to prepare its launch. Three proposals for joint
experimental programmes (JEEPs), as well as the draft
framework and JEEP agreements, were reviewed during
the meeting. The NEA is currently updating the agreements
to accommodate feedback from participants, and it intends
to circulate the final versions of the agreements in early2020. The NEA is also assisting in the co-ordination of thetechnical review of the experimental programme proposals
and further elaboration of their linkages with FIDES projects
on data preservation, training and education. FIDES and its
experimental programmes are expected to start in 2021.

Contact:

Tatiana Ivanova
Head, Division of Nuclear Science+33 (0)1 73 21 28 90
Tatiana.ivanova@oecd-nea.org

59

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Joint Projects
The TAF­-ID Project
The Thermodynamics of Advanced
Fuels – International Database (TAF-ID)
is devoted to establishing a comprehensive, internationally recognised
and quality-assured database of phase
diagrams and of the thermodynamic
properties of advanced nuclear fuels tomeet specialised requirements for thedevelopment of such fuels for a future
generation of nuclear reactors.
The second phase of the project(TAF-ID phase 2) was establishedin November 2018 by 11 signatories
from 7 countries and the European
Commission (EC). It will aim to:• test the validity of the TAF-ID database by performing thermodynamic
measurements on complex fuelcompositions and comparing theexperimental results to calculations;• identify the origin of the discrepancies between experiments and calculations that emerged within phase
1 of TAF-ID;• continue the development of thedatabase by introducing models
for missing binary and/or ternary
systems;• organise training sessions for usersof the TAF-ID database.

The 12 th meeting of the TAF-ID
Programme Review Group and kickoff meeting for phase 2 of the project
was held on 4-5 February 2019 at NEA
Headquarters.
Preliminary discussions were conducted during 2019 between the Chairof the TAF-ID Programme Review
Group, a representative of Tokyo
Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech)and the NEA project co-ordinator toassess the possibility for Tokyo Techjoining the project.

The TCOFF Project
The joint project on the Thermodynamic
Characterisation of Fuel Debris andFission Products Based on Scenario
Analysis of Severe Accident Progression

60 | NEA Annual Report 2019at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Station (TCOFF), which is supportedby the Japan Atomic Energy Agency/
Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced
Decommissioning Science (JAEA /CLADS), was launched as part of NEA
post-Fukushima activities within the
Nuclear Science Committee in 2017.
A total of 16 organisations from
9 member countries and the EC participate in the TCOFF project. Its current
activity focuses on the integration of
improved knowledge on the thermodynamics of the severe accidents into
severe accident analysis codes.
The project has achieved substantial
progress during its third year of activity.
Since its initiation, for example, a second
call for R&D proposals has been completed, and funding has been granted
to five organisations from Japan (Tokyo
Tech), France (Aix-Marseille University),
and Russia (A.P. Aleksandrov Scientific
Research Technological Institute [NITI],
Khlopin Radium Institute [KRI], Joint
Institute for High Temperatures of theRussian Academy of Sciences [JIHT]).
The thermodynamic database benchmark addressing the phase formation
tendency in the core region of unit 1of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP during
accident progression was completed.
This study addressed both the in-vessel and ex-vessel region with a focus on
the molten core-concrete interaction.
A second benchmark was conductedduring 2019 to address the behaviourof fission products in the condensed
and vapour phases.
T he current TCO FF projectagreement will remain in force until
31 December 2019. The TCOFF final
report will be completed in the first halfof 2020. The 5th TCOFF Management
Board meeting was held on 8-9 July
2019 at the Central Research Instituteof Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI)Headquarters in Tokyo. The possibilityof launching a second phase of the
project was addressed at the meeting.
The details of this potential second
phase (i.e. the project structure, funding
scheme, and programme of work) will
be discussed among the TCOFF project
participating organisations in 2020.

The NEST Framework
The NEA Nuclear Education, Skills
and Technology (NEST) Framework
Agreement was signed by 15 organisations from 10 member countries
and entered into force on 15 February
2019. Two Management Board (MB)meetings were held in the course of
2019, on 28 March and 13 September,respectively.
During the meeting held in
September, NEST MB members
elected a Bureau composed of the Chair:
Andreas Pautz, Paul Scherrer Institute(PSI); and three Vice-Chairs: Katharina
Stummeyer, Gesellschaft für Anlagenund Reaktorsicherheit (GRS); Andrea
Duskas, US Department of Energy(DOE); and Valery Karezin, Rosatom.
MB members approved the first
NEST projects and discussed policies
and strategies for further developmentof the framework. They also discussed
how to enhance the role of universities
and private organisations in the submission of and participation in NEST projects. Finally, MB members welcomed
increased co-operation and synergies
with education and training projects,
for example through activities with boththe IAEA and the EC Joint ResearchCentre (JRC).
Four NEST projects are now readyto be launched, focusing on: 1) safety
relevant phenomena in containments
during accidents (in the context of the
NEST-HYMERES project), led by PSI(Switzerland); 2) SMRs, led by McMaster
University (Canada) and the DOE (UnitedStates); 3) advanced remote technology
for decommissioning, led by CLADS of
JAEA; and 4) management of irradiatedgraphite, led by Rosatom (Russia). The
first Project Management Meeting for
the NEST-HYMERES project was heldon 15 November in Paris. Four NEST
fellows carried out their fellowships
at PSI in 2019, and it is foreseen that
10-15 more fellows will start their fellowships in 2020. Meetings were also heldin July and August 2019 to strengthen
co-operation among participants in theRosatom and CLADS projects.

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights

Data Bank
The goal of the NEA Data Bank is to serve as thepremier international centre of reference for basic
nuclear tools, such as computer codes and data,
which may include nuclear or thermochemical dataand experimental and evaluated microscopic nuclear
data, together with benchmark experimental data
used for the analysis and prediction of phenomenain the nuclear field. The Data Bank also maintains
and distributes the databases developed within the
NEA working parties and expert groups, as well as by
NEA joint projects. The Data Bank provides a direct
service to its users by making tools available on
request and by co-ordinating international initiatives.

Computer program services

The Management Board of the Data Bank(MBDAV) approved the introduction of a singleuser licence for computer codes dispatched by
the Computer Program Services (CPS) of the Data
Bank. This new licensing system will be launchedin 2020.
End-user meetings have been organised inseveral countries to understand the needs andexpectations of CPS end users. Video conference
seminars were also organised with CPS
liaison officers to explain CPS procedures andrestrictions, answer their questions and receive
feedback.
Two Nuclear Data Weeks were held in
2019, gathering a community of nuclear dataexperimentalists, evaluators and expert users
across diverse nuclear data projects within the
NEA and the European Commission (EC).
The first Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion(JEFF) stakeholder workshop was organised inJune 2019 to engage and strengthen the links
between the JEFF project and nuclear data
institutional end users, including industry players
and safety regulators.
Twelve training courses and workshops wereorganised in 2019 for popular computer codes andthe Thermochemical Data Base (TDB).
The decision was made to begin the
Thermochemical Database 6th phase activity(TDB-6) in 2019, with the participation of 15
funding organisations.

More than 900 officially nominated establishments are using
the Computer Program Services (CPS) in NEA Data Bank
participating countries.
The NEA Data Bank collection contains more than
1 500 computer programs and 350 integral experiments,
covering all areas related to reactor design, dynamics, safety
and radiation shielding, material behaviour and radioactive
waste applications. In 2018, a total of 18 new or new versionsof computer programs, 4 NEA safety joint project packages
and 2 integral experimental data packages were added tothe collection. Approximately 1 235 computer programs,
1 545 integral experiment data sets, 420 NEA safety joint
project packages and 5 legacy books were dispatched uponrequest. At the end of October 2019, 10 new or new versionsof computer programs, 1 NEA safety joint project report and2 integral experimental data packages were added to thecollection, with approximately 845 computer programs,
165 NEA safety joint project packages, 1 960 integral
experiment packages and 15 copies of legacy books
dispatched.
In addition to the computer codes developed in NEA
Data Bank participating countries, the CPS also distributes
codes received from the Radiation Safety Information
Computational Center (RSICC) thanks to a co-operative
arrangement between the United States Department ofEnergy (DOE) and the NEA Data Bank. The CPS distributes

these RSICC codes according to the conditions set in the
co-operative arrangement under a DOE/NEA framework.
The CPS was originally dedicated to computer programs,
but its role has expanded as the needs for information andknowledge management have increased at the NEA. The
CPS now ensures the preservation and controlled distributionof safety joint projects and of integral experiments
co-ordinated by the NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear
Installations (CSNI) and the NEA Nuclear Science Committee(NSC), respectively. This activity illustrates the transversal
role of the Data Bank in the preservation and managementof information and knowledge produced through NEA
co-ordinated activities.
Since 2018, the MBDAV has been discussing a new
strategy, which aims to provide better services to end users
and to adapt to new computing infrastructures. As part ofthese services, new licensing terms are being defined forthe computer programs dispatched by the CPS, referred toas single-user licences. This new licensing framework was
discussed during two CPS Task Force (CPS TF) meetings
and was finally presented and approved by the Management
Board in June 2019. The new framework will be implemented
in 2020.

61

TIETHYS

The CPS initiated end-user meetings this year to better
understand the status of code developments in the different
establishments and what these establishments expect fromthe distributions carried out by the NEA Data Bank CPS.
In 2019, meetings were organised in France (January and
April), Spain (January), Belgium (June), Finland (September),
Argentina (November), Japan (November) and Russia(December). Two video conferences were also organised in
April 2019 to reach out to liaison officers with the objectiveof explaining the Computer Program Service system andof obtaining feedback. In total, 44 liaison officers from19 countries participated in the conferences.
A total of 11 training courses on 6 popular computer programs were organised at NEA offices in France and in othermember countries upon the request of CPS users. In 2019,two training courses were organised on the Code System
for Monte-Carlo Simulation of Electron and Photon Transport(PENELOPE) in Barcelona, Spain; and on the Monte-Carlo
N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP®) in Bariloche, Argentina.

Nuclear data services
Since 1981, the NEA Data Bank has hosted the Joint
Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) Nuclear Data Library
project, a collaborative effort among Data Bank participating
countries to produce and distribute evaluated nuclear datalibraries, mainly for fission and fusion applications.
The first JEFF stakeholder workshop was organised inJuly 2019 to strengthen the links between the JEFF projectand nuclear data stakeholders, including industry players
and safety regulators. Following the meeting, a workshop
statement was prepared on future activities of the Data Bank.
It emphasised the importance of better collaboration andcommunication between developers of nuclear data and end
users during the preparation of future releases of nuclear
data, the need for better software infrastructure at the Data
Bank to make collaboration more efficient, and the criticalsituation in terms of expertise and knowledge transfer inthe field of nuclear data. A first meeting between JEFF and
the Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL) was
organised in 2019 – during the nuclear data week in Paris –after the JEFF project made the decision to begin periodical
bilateral meetings with major nuclear data library projects.
The Data Bank maintains large databases containing
bibliographic (the Computer Index of Nuclear Data [CINDA]),
experimental (Experimental Nuclear Reaction Data Retrievals[EXFOR]) and evaluated nuclear data, all of which are madeavailable online. As a member of the International Network of
Nuclear Reaction Data Centres (NRDC) since 1966, the NEA
Data Bank is responsible for the compilation, in EXFOR, of
neutron and charged particle data arising from experimental
programmes in its participating countries. In 2018, thisinvolved the evaluation and processing of 327 new or updated
entries with over 264 000 new data points in total, and by
the end of October 2019, the evaluation and processing of
271 new or updated entries with over 173 000 new data
points compiled in the EXFOR database.

62 | NEA Annual Report 2019

As part of its nuclear data services, the Data Bank
continues its efforts to develop quality assurance processes
for evaluated nuclear data files. In 2019, the development ofinternal processes that streamline the workflow necessary
for the integral benchmarking of nuclear data files continued
with the implementation of a new GitLab infrastructure in the
secure NEA hosted servers.
The Data Bank is also responsible for developing andmaintaining the Java-based Nuclear Data Information System(JANIS), a leading cross-section visualisation tool. JANIS
is designed to facilitate the visualisation, comparison andmanipulation of nuclear data and experimental data fromEXFOR. In 2019, updates and bug fixes were implemented
to prepare for the release of JANIS-4.1 after the previous
release of JANIS-4.0 in 2014. In 2019, JANIS continues to be
the most frequently accessed Data Bank service.
As part of its work in nuclear data, the nuclear data service
team collaborates closely with the NSC Working Party on
International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC),
which oversees the Expert Group for the High Priority
Reqeuest List (EGHPRL) for Nuclear Data. The Data Bankis responsible for maintaining the HPRL as an interactive
database and for updating all materials following expert
group decisions. In 2019, the HPRL system migration to the
new NEA JCMS-based web content has been prototyped in
anticipation of the forthcoming migration in 2020.

Databases of experiments, nuclear
knowledge management
To support the activities of other NEA standing technicalcommittees, the Data Bank continues to develop and provide
support to databases built and maintained by the NEA. This
includes the Spent Fuel Isotopic Composition Database(SFCOMPO-2.0), the Database for the International Handbookof Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments(DICE), the International Reactor Physics Handbook Databaseand Analysis Tool (IDAT), the Nuclear Data Sensitivity Tool
(NDaST) and the Thermal-Hydraulic Safety Experiments(TIETHYS), all of which concern nuclear science activities
at the NEA. The Data Bank also supports nuclear safety andradiological protection activities by maintaining databases
such as the Fire Incidents Records Exchange (FIRE), theComponent Operational Experience, Degradation and Ageing
Programme (CODAP), the Construction Experience Program(CONEX) and the Information System on Occupational
Exposure (ISOE).

Contact:

Kenya Suyama
Head of Data Bank
+33 (0)1 73 21 28 20
kenya.suyama@oecd-nea.org

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Joint Project

The Thermochemical Database Project
The Thermochemical Database (TDB)
Project was initiated in 1984 after the
NEA Radioactive Waste Management
Committee recognised the need fora high-quality database to model thesafety assessments of radioactive
waste repositories.
The 6 th phase of the TDB Project
began in February 2019 for an initial
duration of 4 years (2019-2023). A totalof 15 organisations from 12 countries
will make financial contributions for theactivities associated with TDB ProjectPhase 6. The first meeting of the
Project Management Board was held at
NEA premises in February 2019, where
the programme of work for 2019 was
discussed and approved.

The project has thus far produced
13 volumes of internationally recognised and quality-assured thermodynamic data, and work is currently
in progress to complete 4 reviews,
expected for publication in 2020:

Two state-of-the-art reports areunder development, and the publicationof both reports is expected in 2021:• Chemical thermodynamics of iron –and experimental approaches ofhigh ionic-strength solutions.

second volume.

• Chemical thermodynamics ofmolybdenum.

• Chemical thermodynamics of
selected ancillary compounds.

• A second thermodynamic data
update of uranium, americium, neptunium, plutonium and technetium.

• A report on thermodynamic considerations for cement minerals.

• A report on assessing the modelling
The third edition of the TDB training course on “Thermodynamic Data
Collection and Assessment” organisedby the NEA took place in Kyoto, Japanin September 2019. The audience
included a variety of participants from
PhD students to university professors
and representatives from regulatory
bodies.

63

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights

Legal Affairs
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to help create thesound national and international legal regimes required
for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including as
regards nuclear safety, international trade in nuclear
materials and equipment, public engagement, issues of
liability and compensation for nuclear damage, and toserve as a leading centre for nuclear law information andeducation. The staff provides support to the Nuclear Law
Committee (NLC) and its working parties in this area, as
well as the Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention.

Development and harmonisationof nuclear legislation
Nuclear Law Committee (NLC)
The Nuclear Law Committee (NLC) met on 27‑28 June 2019
to review the current activities conducted under NLC auspices
on nuclear liability and transport, deep geological repositories
and nuclear liability, the legal aspects of nuclear safety, as
well as recent developments relating to the international legal
framework for public participation in nuclear decision making.
Presentations on latest national developments in nuclear
law were provided by Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom
and the United States. Among the non-member countries
represented, the Lithuanian Delegation also reported on thelatest national developments in nuclear law.
The NEA Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) and the NLC
working party Chairs presented the NLC with updates on
their programme of work and ongoing activities. Participants
discussed the organisation of the Fourth International
Workshop on the Indemnification of Damage in the Event ofa Nuclear Accident, the WPLANS report on legal frameworks
for the long‑term operation of nuclear power reactors (formore information on the report see infra, “Nuclear law
publications programme”), and the implementation ofinternational conventions with regard to environmental
impact assessments and public participation in nuclear
energy‑related activities.
The meeting gathered around 70 experts from member
countries, the EC, the IAEA and the nuclear insurance
industry, as well as representatives from four non-member
countries (Brazil, China, Lithuania and Ukraine).

64 | NEA Annual Report 2019

The Nuclear Law Committee (NLC) met inJune 2019, gathering around 70 participantsfrom NEA member and non-member countries,
the European Commission (EC), the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the nuclear
insurance industry. During the same week, theWorking Party on the Legal Aspects of Nuclear
Safety (WPLANS) and the Working Party on
Nuclear Liability and Transport (WPNLT) also held
meetings.
The Fourth International Workshop on the
Indemnification of Damage in the Event of a
Nuclear Accident was held in October 2019
in Lisbon, Portugal, to continue exploring thepractical application of the international nuclear
liability conventions and relevant national
legislations. The workshop gathered 140 experts
from 24 NEA member and non-member countries,
the EC, the IAEA, the nuclear insurance industry
and the nuclear industry.
The NEA flagship report Legal Frameworks forLong-Term Operation of Nuclear Power Reactors
was published in November 2019. Building on
information provided by 25 NEA member and nonmember countries, the report provides insights
into the various laws, regulations and policies that
contribute to different countries’ approaches tolong-term operation.
The 2019 sessions of the NEA International
Nuc lear L aw Es s entials (INL E) c our s e(18‑22 February) and the International School of
Nuclear Law (ISNL) (26 August to 6 September)
attracted diverse groups of students andprofessionals from across the world to learn
more about the legal framework and major issues
affecting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
An Alumni Directory of the INLE course waspublished to enhance the INLE community.

Contracting Parties to the Paris
Convention and the Brussels
Supplementary Convention
The NEA member countries that are party to the Paris
Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear
Energy (the “Paris Convention”) and the Brussels Convention
Supplementary to the Paris Convention (the “Brussels
Supplementary Convention”) met on 24 June 2019 in order
to continue discussing the application and interpretation of
the Paris and Brussels Supplementary Conventions, andpreparing for the entry into force of the 2004 Protocols
amending both conventions. The 2004 Protocol to amend theParis Convention has not yet entered into force as a result of adecision by the Council of the European Union (2004/294/EC)
requiring that EU member states that are contracting parties
to the Paris Convention (with the exception of Denmark

NEA Director-General
William D. Magwood, IVgiving his welcoming
address during the workshop
opening session
on 8 October 2019.

and Slovenia) deposit their instruments of ratification of
the protocol simultaneously. The Protocol to amend theBrussels Supplementary Convention, on the other hand,requires ratification by all its contracting parties. The last EU
member state that needs to finalise its national legislative
process to be able to ratify the 2004 Protocols is Italy; after
its approval by the Chamber of Deputies, the draft bill has
been submitted to the Senate in September 2019. The only
non-EU member state that also needs to finalise its national
legislative process to ratify the 2004 Protocol to amend theParis Convention is Turkey; the draft bill has been submitted
to the National Assembly in November 2019.

Working Party on the Legal Aspectsof Nuclear Safety (WPLANS)The NEA Working Party on the Legal Aspects of Nuclear
Safety (WPLANS) held a meeting on 25 June 2019with participants from 18 NEA member countries, twonon‑member countries (Brazil and Ukraine), and the EC.
The meeting featured a presentation by the NEA Divisionof Nuclear Technology Development and Economics on theactivities of the NEA Ad Hoc Expert Group on Maintaining
Low-Carbon Generation Capacity through LTO of Nuclear
Power Plants: Economic, Technical and Policy Aspects(EGLTO), as well as a presentation by the EC on theNovember 2018 opinion by the Advocate General of the
Court of Justice of the European Union in a case regarding
the lifetime extensions of the Doel 1 and two nuclear
power reactors in Belgium (C-411/17). Reports on nationalframeworks for licence renewal and subsequent licence
renewal were respectively provided by Finland and theUnited States, while Spain and Sweden gave presentations
on latest national developments related to the legal aspectsof nuclear safety. Participants finalised the report on thelegal framework for the long‑term operation of nuclear
power reactors (for more information on the report see infra,“Nuclear law publications programme”). They also discussed
the legal aspects of licensing small modular reactors, legal
challenges to licensing decisions, and the enforcement of
nuclear safety-related laws and regulations.

Working Party on Nuclear Liability
and Transport (WPNLT)The NEA Working Party on Nuclear Liability and Transport(WPNLT) met on 26 June 2019 with 38 representatives from19 member countries, two non‑member countries, the EC,
the IAEA, the nuclear insurance industry and the International
Nuclear Law Association (INLA). At this meeting, theworking party adopted its programme of work for 2019‑2020
and approved its mandate for the period of 2019‑2022. The
participants discussed the preliminary results to an enquiry
regarding national legislation and rules applicable to nuclear
transport and transit, and agreed to make the potential final
deliverables publicly available. A topical session examinedthrough legal, technical and insurance perspectives thechallenges relating to the qualification of nuclear substances
to be transported. A presentation was provided by the
Belgian delegation on the national legal and regulatory
developments related to nuclear transport activities, while
INLA representatives presented updates on the activities of
their working group on nuclear transport. Participants also
worked on theoretical case studies.

International co-operation on
nuclear law
The NEA continued to contribute to the work of the IAEA
International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX) andthe World Nuclear Association, as well as to support theactivities of INLA.

Fourth International Workshop
on the Indemnification of Damage
in the Event of a Nuclear Accident
The Fourth International Workshop on the Indemnification of
Damage in the Event of a Nuclear Accident was organisedby the NEA in co-operation with the Instituto Superior
Técnico and the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon
on 8-10 October 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal. The event wasa unique opportunity to continue exploring the practicalapplication of the international nuclear liability conventions
and national legislations in case a nuclear incident occurs
at a nuclear installation that causes transboundary nuclear
damage. More specifically, the workshop assessed thedetermination of the nuclear damage to be compensated andtransboundary claims handling, in order for the participants
to understand the challenges involved and discuss views andoptions to ensure an adequate compensation of victims incase such a nuclear incident were to occur.

65

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

With regard to the determination of nuclear damage,the aim was to discuss in different sessions the meaningof each of the following heads of damage that have been
included in the post-Chernobyl versions of the nuclear liability
conventions:• loss of life or personal injury;• loss of or damage to property;• economic loss (arising from damage 1 and 2, loss of

income deriving from an economic interest in any use or
enjoyment of the environment, loss caused by preventive
measures, and any other economic loss);• costs of measures of reinstatement of impaired
environment; and• costs of preventive measures.
The meaning to be given to each head of damage may
in practice depend on the circumstances of the accident,
the international convention(s) applicable (if any), the national
legislation and case law, and the interpretation that thecompetent court may have. The purpose of the workshop
was to identify:• what could be considered in practice as “nuclear damage”;• the challenges that could be raised by some heads ofdamage that are difficult to determine or may potentiallybe compensated under different heads of damage (toavoid double payment); and• whether a system to determine what nuclear damageis should be set up in case of a nuclear accident to help
avoiding disputes and litigations (which would be time consuming and costly for all parties involved and would delay
the payment of compensation to the concerned victims).

The workshop also addressed the administrative
challenges of handling nuclear damage compensation

Group photo of
the 140 workshop
participants, from24 member countries
and 5 non-member
countries.

66 | NEA Annual Report 2019claims to set forth the complexity of such process, which
would require, among many others, national and international
co-ordination between several governmental authorities andprivate actors, an adequate claims handling procedure put inplace in case the countries concerned (i.e. the installationand the affected states) would not have treaty relations, anda common understanding of the applicable legal framework
between the countries concerned. It clearly demonstrated
the need to be prepared beforehand as much as feasible
by, for example, setting up in advance whatever is possible(IT system, website, coordination between fund providers,etc.), clarifying the responsibilities between all the actors
involved (which would certainly change from one country toanother and from one operator to another) and carrying out
international nuclear claims handling exercises.
A group of experts from different fields and backgrounds(e.g. legal, economics, radiological protection, insurance)
was constituted for each head of damage and for the claims
handling. Such variety of experts ensured a holistic analysis
of each topic. There were in total 42 experts from 16 member
and non-member countries involved in such groups. They
prepared notes and relevant supporting documents for each
topic that were made available to the participants before theworkshop. This approach ensured an active and collaborative
discussion between the panel of experts and the participants
who came prepared.
A total of 140 participants attended the workshop from
24 NEA member countries, 5 non-member countries, the EC
and the IAEA. They represented governments, regulatory
authorities, technical support organisations, academia,
judiciary, operators, suppliers, law firms, as well as nuclear
insurance pools. The Secretariat is now preparing a reportwith practical outputs that should facilitate countries tobe prepared with regard to the determination of nuclear
damage and claims handling in case a nuclear accident withtransboundary damage occurred.

Legal Affairs
2019

The Legal Frameworks for Long-Term Operation of Nuclear Power Reactors

Legal Frameworks
for Long-Term
Operation of Nuclear
Power Reactors

Legal Affairs
2019

Nuclear Law Bulletin
No. 102

Volume 2019/1

NEA

Nuclear law publications programme
Legal Frameworks for Long-Term
Operation of Nuclear Power Reactors
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.
While there are numerous reports that address LTO from atechnical standpoint, and some of these also incorporate areview of regulatory frameworks for LTO, Legal Frameworks
for Long-Term Operation of Nuclear Power Reactors is thefirst report of its kind to comprehensively address the legal
and policy aspects involved in a decision to allow or authorise
long-term operation.
The aim of this report, published in November 2019, is toprovide insights into the various laws, regulations and policies
that contribute to different countries’ approaches to LTO.
By collecting information from 25 NEA member and nonmember countries, this report highlights both commonalities
among approaches as well as possible reasons for variations.
Ultimately, the information gathered can serve as a resource
for future exchanges respecting the legal aspects of LTO,
with a view to further development and strengthening of thecollective understanding of these issues.

Nuclear Law Bulletin
The Nuclear Law Bulletin (NLB) is a unique international
publication for both professionals and academics in the fieldof nuclear law. It provides readers with authoritative andcomprehensive information on nuclear law developments
since 1968. The first issue of 2019 was the 102nd edition
and includes the following articles and studies: “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 Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s(NRC) licensing of nuclear facilities without a repository”

and “New framework for radiation protection legislation inGermany”. It also features case law, legislative and regulatory
updates from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Japan,
Lithuania, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland and theUnited States.
The second volume of 2019, the 103rd edition, includes
articles and studies entitled “Technology-neutral licensingof advanced reactors: Evaluating the past and present NRC
framework”, and “A perspective on key legal considerations
for performance-based regulation”. It contains case law,national legislative and regulatory updates from Canada,
France, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Slovak
Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United States.
In addition to the 2019 English issues, the French editionsof the Nuclear Law Bulletin Nos. 95 to 97 have also been
published in the course of the year 2019. All issues of the
NLB are available free online at www.oecd-nea.org/law/nlb.

Regulatory and institutional frameworkfor nuclear activities
Country profiles on the regulatory and institutional frameworkfor nuclear activities in member countries are available atwww.oecd-nea.org/law/legislation. The NEA continues
its concerted efforts to update this online repository of
information and is grateful for the support of OECD and
NEA member countries. Most recently, an update of theFinnish profile was published in November 2019.

Nuclear law website
The NEA strives to keep the information on its website
on nuclear law up to date. In February 2019, it has forexample updated the Table on Nuclear Operators’ Third
Party Liability Amounts and Financial Security Limits that
attempts to provide information on the applicable nuclear
liability amounts and related financial security obligations
imposed on nuclear operators in a wide range of countries,
including non-OECD or non-NEA countries. This table, which
is not official but rather for information purposes, can be
downloaded at: www.oecd-nea.org/law.

67

The 2019 session of the
NEA International Nuclear Law
Essentials (INLE) was heldfrom 18 to 22 February 2019
in Paris, France.

Nuclear law education
programmesInternational School of Nuclear Law(ISNL)
The 19 th session of the NEA International School of Nuclear
Law (ISNL) was held from 26 August to 6 September 2019
in Montpellier, France, bringing together a diverse group of
graduate students and professionals from across the world
to learn more about the legal framework and major issues
affecting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Organised by
the NEA and the University of Montpellier, the ISNL is aunique educational programme that offers participants fromthe academic, private and governmental sectors an in-depth
look at international nuclear law, focusing on areas such as
nuclear safety, environmental law, security, safeguards andnuclear third party liability. The 2019 session was attended by
60 participants from 33 countries, including numerous nonNEA member countries, many of whom received support toattend the ISNL from the IAEA, which also provided several
lecturers. The ISNL has attracted since 2001 more than
1 000 participants worldwide from an increasingly diverse
range of countries, many of whom are now experts in the
nuclear law field.
The ISNL Alumni Directory has been updated regularly
throughout the year 2019 to include new participants andlecturers. As of the last update of November 2019, it featured
335 contacts from the ISNL network. Access to the directoryis password-restricted and available only to those alumni andlecturers who are listed. Participants who wish to update
their contact information or to be included in the directoryshould e-mail isnl@oecd-nea.org.

68 | NEA Annual Report 2019

International Nuclear Law Essentials(INLE)The eighth session of the INLE course was held on
18‑22 February 2019 with a diverse international group of
49 professionals from 22 NEA member and non‑member
countries. During the one‑week programme, the participantslearnt about the international nuclear law framework andmajor issues affecting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
A total of 18 lecturers from the NEA, the IAEA, nuclear
regulatory authorities and the private sector gave lectures
on topics related to nuclear safety, security, non-proliferationand liability.

International Nuclear Law Essentials(INLE) Alumni Directory
An Alumni Directory for the INLE has been created, on
the same basis as the ISNL Alumni Directory, in order tohelp its alumni and lecturers across the years maintaintheir connections and network. Access to the directory is
passwordrestricted and available only to those alumni andlecturers who are listed. Participants who wish to update
their contact information or to be included in the directoryshould e-mail inle@oecd-nea.org.

Contact:

Ximena Vásquez-Maignan
Head, Office of Legal Counsel+33 (0)1 73 21 28 60
ximena.vasquez@oecd-nea.org

GENERAL INFORMATION

Highlights

Information andCommunication
The goal of the NEA in this sector is to provide
member governments and other major stakeholders
with information resulting from NEA activities and toenhance awareness and understanding of the scientific,
technical, economic and legal aspects of nuclear
activities, as well as awareness of the NEA itself.

The NEA is an intergovernmental agency specialised instudying the scientific, technical and economic aspects ofnuclear energy. It strives to provide high-quality, factual
information in a timely manner to its member countries, aswell as to other interested parties wishing to learn about
nuclear energy’s multiple aspects and the results of the
Agency’s work.

Relations with the media
Relations with the media in 2019 covered a wide variety
of topics and questions concerning the development anduse of nuclear power. Thirty one press and news releases
were issued to notify the media of the launch of The Costsof Decarbonisation: System Costs with High Shares of
Nuclear and Renewables in Budapest, Hungary; the second
Country‑Specific Nuclear Safety Culture Forum in Finland; thesignature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the World Nuclear Association (WNA); the first Roundtablefor International Co‑operation in Final Disposal of High‑level
Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel.
Over the course of the year, the NEA and the NEA DirectorGeneral were cited in numerous news articles in specialised
publications and the international press, including, Budapest
Business Journal, CNBC, Denki Shimbun, The Economist,
The Financial Times, Forbes, La Nación, Le Monde, Maeil
Broadcasting Network, Nuclear España, NucNet, Platts,
Radio Chine Internationale, Reuters, Sputnik News, andWorld Nuclear News.

Publications
In 2019, the Agency produced 25 publications, all of which
are available free on the NEA website at www.oecd-nea.
org/pub. A list of these publications is provided on page 106.
A total of 24 NEA technical reports were also issued under
the unclassified “R” series, directly downloadable from thesubstantive areas’ web pages.
The most accessed online reports during the course of theyear included: The Costs of Decarbonisation: System Costs

The Agency produced 25 publications and
24 technical reports in 2019, all available free
online from the NEA website. Overall dissemination and downloads remained very strong.
Thirty one press and news releases were
issued in 2019, on topics such as: the launch of The
Costs of Decarbonisation: System Costs with High
Shares of Nuclear and Renewables in Budapest,
Hungary, and the signature of a Memorandumof Understanding (MoU) with the World Nuclear
Association (WNA).
Online networking and multimedia platforms
have seen steady growth and were used extensively throughout the year to communicate theAgency’s latest publications, news and events.
The Agency has continued to increase its visibility through participation of NEA management
in major international fora and events in member
countries and elsewhere.

with High Shares of Nuclear and Renewables; Nuclear Energy
Data 2018; and various editions of Uranium Resources,
Production and Demand.
The Agency’s specialised journal, NEA News, keeps
NEA correspondents and other interested professionals
abreast of significant findings and advances in the Agency’s
programme of work. It provides feature articles on thelatest developments in the nuclear energy field, as well as
updates on NEA work, news briefs and information about
NEA publications and forthcoming events.
In 2019, NEA News covered topics such as the true costsof decarbonisation, sustaining multinational nuclear fuel andmaterials testing capacities for safety, industry and science,and knowledge management and the sustainability of thenuclear sector. NEA News is available free on the Agency’s
website at www.oecd-nea.org/nea-news.

Online communication
The NEA’s online presence and use of new media
technologies play a key role in communicating the work andaccomplishments of the Agency. Website traffic remained
steady in 2019, with the following areas attracting the mostviews: the radiological and health impacts of the Chernobyl
accident, the NEA Data Bank’s Java-based Nuclear Data
Information System (JANIS), news and general information
about the Agency, NEA Data Bank Computer Program
Services and NEA publications and reports.
Online networking platforms have helped strengthencommunication of NEA activities. The Agency maintains
a regular presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube,and can be followed on Twitter @OECD_NEA. In 2019, theNEA maintained its engagement on all three platforms. The
Agency’s social media profile grew steadily in 2019 with
a 48% increase in the number of followers on LinkedIn, a
33.5% increase on Twitter, and a 6.3% increase on Facebook.

69

Webinar of 17 January 2019 for the launch of the report
The Costs of Decarbonisation:
System Costs with High Shares of Nuclear
and Renewables.

Webinars remained an integral part of NEA online
communications work in 2019. The NEA held webcast
panel discussions to launch the reports: The Costs ofDecarbonisation: System Costs with High Shares of Nuclear
and Renewables and The Supply of Medical Radioisotopes:
An Economic Diagnosis and Possible Solutions. Participants
were able to join these events live online by sending
comments and questions via e-mail and Twitter.
The Agency also continued to use video as part of its
digital communications strategy in 2019. Fourteen videos
were created and disseminated on Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter and YouTube, helping increase the visibility of NEA
results, publications and events. Topics covered in 2019
included The Costs of Decarbonisation: System Costs withHigh Shares of Nuclear and Renewables, NEA News, the NEA
Workshop on Stakeholder Involvement: Risk Communicationand the NEA International Mentoring Workshops in Scienceand Engineering.
Subscriptions to the NEA Monthly News Bulletin haveincreased to nearly 25 000 subscribers. Distributed free ofcharge, the bulletin includes monthly updates on NEA work,
activities and newly released reports. Online subscriptions
can be made at www.oecd-nea.org/bulletin. Current andarchived issues can also be viewed at www.oecd-nea.org/
general/mnb.
Online interaction with NEA delegates continued to
expand in 2019. Most NEA committees and their working
groups rely extensively on electronic communication such as
password-protected extranet pages, e-mail discussion lists
or online collaborative work spaces. The Delegates’ Area of
the NEA website also continues to offer an important service
for many NEA committees and working groups. This sectionof the website provides authorised users with official NEA
documents, information on forthcoming NEA meetings,
contact details for other committee members, as well as
access to the presentations and background notes prepared
for the Steering Committee policy debates. The Agency iscurrently in the midst of redeveloping its website so thatit better serves the needs of policy makers, NEA meeting
participants and the general public. The aim is to expand
the reach of the Agency’s communications activities andreinforce the public impact of the Agency’s analyses andfindings.

9‑12 June; the G20 Energy Transitions Ministerial Meeting on
Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable
Growth on 15-16 June in Karuizawa, Japan; Nuclear in achanging world, a conference organised jointly by FORATOM
and the Romanian Atomic Forum – ROMATOM on 26 June
in Bucharest, Romania; the Nuclear Innovation Bootcamp,organised in collaboration with the French Nuclear Energy
Society (SFEN), the University of Wisconsin‑Madison and
the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) on 23 August; the
6 th International Symposium on Safety Improvement andStakeholder Confidence in Radioactive Waste Management,
organised by the Korea Radioactive Waste Agency on
25 November.
Mr Magwood also gave lectures and held discussions
with students from a number of higher education institutions,
including the University of São Paulo, Brazil; the University of
New South Wales, Australia; the University of London Schoolof Oriental and African Studies, United Kingdom; and the
Moscow Engineering Physics Institute in Russia.
During 2019, the NEA co-sponsored and organised
information stands at several international events where the
NEA Director-General or NEA experts intervened. These
included:• Certificate Course on “Nuclear Energy and Law”,
New Delhi, India, 4-8 March;• 2019 International Conference on Nuclear Data for Scienceand Technology (ND2019), Beijing, China, 19-24 May;

• Innovation for the Future of Nuclear Energy – A Global
Forum, Gyeongju, South Korea, 9-12 June;• Nuclear

Innovation Bootcamp, Paris, France,
19-30 August;• The 11th International Conference on Nuclear Criticality
Safety (ICNC2019), Paris, France, 15-20 September;

Public affairs and visibility ininternational fora
NEA Director-General William D. Magwood, IV spoke in avariety of fora and countries in 2019 to communicate key
messages about nuclear energy and the work of the NEA.
These fora included: the 14th European Nuclear Energy Forumin Prague, Czech Republic on 29‑30 April; the 4th IEEJ/APERCInternational Energy Symposium, held in Tokyo, Japan on
17 May; the 10 th Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver,
Canada on 27‑29 May; the 1st Global Forum on Innovation
for the Future of Nuclear Energy in Gyeongju, Korea on

70 | NEA Annual Report 2019

• International Conference on Climate Change and the Roleof Nuclear Power, Vienna, Austria, 7-11 October.

Contact:Andrew Macintyre
Head, Central Secretariat+33 (0)1 73 21 28 10
andrew.macintyre@oecd-nea.org

NEA ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Highlights
Two expert staff on loan from China joined
the NEA Secretariat to support the Division ofRadiological Protection and Human Aspects of
Nuclear Safety, and the Office of Legal Counsel.

Global relations

D i r e c t o r- G e n e r a l M a g w o o d v i s i t e dBulgaria upon invitation from the Ministerof Energy. Bulgaria subsequently applied for
NEA membership.

The goal of the NEA is to establish effective relationships
with partner countries whose participation in the
NEA programme can be mutually beneficial and toensure complementarity and increase synergies with
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), theEuropean Commission (EC) and other international
bodies. When relevant for its programme of work, theNEA develops exchanges with industrial organisations.

Bulgaria.

Director-General Magwood visited Brazil
for the first time to discuss opportunities forenhancing co-operation.
India became a Participant in the Committee
on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) after
becoming a Participant in the Committee on
Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) in 2018.
Director-General Magwood met with the
new Director-General of Energy at the EC,
Ms Juul‑Jørgensen, on the occasion of aworkshop on SMRs to discuss opportunities forfurther co-operation.

NEA Director‑General Mr William D. Magwood, IVvisited Brazil on 4‑8 November 2019.

The NEA was invited for the first time to attend
the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy Transitionsand Global Environment for Sustainable Growth,
held under the Japanese presidency.

BrazilPeople’s Republic of China

Director-General Magwood visited Brazil in November 2019and met with several high-level government representatives
to discuss further enhancements to co-operation. He visitedAngra NPP and other nuclear facilities.

The NEA’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China(China) continued to develop positively in 2019.

He met earlier in the year in Paris with the Brazilian
Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as with the Brazilian
Minister of Mines and Energy.

Two expert staff on loan joined the NEA Secretariat inMarch 2019 to support the Division of Radiological Protectionand Human Aspects of Nuclear Safety, and the Office ofLegal Counsel, bringing the total to three.

Delegates from CNEN (National Nuclear Energy
Commission) continued to attend in 2019, upon invitation,
several different NEA standing technical committees.

During 2019 China continued its active participation inseven joint projects established under the auspices of the
NEA.

71

NEA Director‑General Mr William D. Magwood, IVvisited Angra nuclear power plant, Brazil.

Co-operation in the area of nuclear safety continued to bestrong, as Chinese delegates participated in the Committee
on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) and the Committee
on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) and selectedworking groups, while the regulatory authority was also
an active participant in the Multinational Design Evaluation
Programme (MDEP).
The participation of China also significantly increased in
the area of radioactive waste management, nuclear law andradiological protection.

India
India became a Participant in the CSNI after joining theprevious year the CNRA. India is also a member of the MDEP.

International organisations
The NEA continues its ­co-­operation
with the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) throughU raniumthe co-ordination and consultation
Re so ur ce s,mechanisms provided for in the
Pr o d uc t io n
and Demand
existing agreement between the
two agencies. These mechanisms
ensure cross-participation in relevant committees and governing
bodies, and in undertaking joint
activities, meetings and conferences in appropriate areas.
During 2019, the NEA and IAEA
held their annual coordination meeting in Paris to discuss several topics, such as the joint conference on Climate Change
and the Role of Nuclear Power, SMRs, research reactors,
and the joint publication Uranium Resources, Production and
Demand, also familiarly known as the “Red Book”.

During 2019, the NEA Director-General met the newly
appointed Director-General of the Directorate-General ofEnergy at the EC in Brussels, Ms Juul-Jørgensen, exchanging
views on the current situation of nuclear technology andidentifying opportunities for engagement.
The Agency has continued to increase its visibility throughthe participation of senior management in international
conferences and fora, such as the Clean Energy Ministerial,
the G7 Nuclear Safety and Security Group (NSSG), and theEuropean Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF). At the meeting of
the ENEF in April 2019 Director-General Magwood delivereda speech in the opening session, together with the Prime
Ministers of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic,
and the Minister of Energy of Romania.
Director-General Magwood was also invited for the firsttime to the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy Transitionsand Global Environment for Sustainable Growth in Japan,
where he delivered a speech on the future perspectives fornuclear energy.

Energy Agency
by the Nuclear
AgencyA Joint Report
onal Atomic Energy
and the Internati

tion
Resources, Produc
Uranium 2018:and Demand

IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the
Department of Nuclear Energy Mikhail Chudakov attended
the NEA Steering Committee in October 2019, delivering apresentation on SMRs during the Policy Briefing.

72 | NEA Annual Report 2019

Liaising with industry associations
and other stakeholders
The NEA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with the World Nuclear Association to share best practices
and co‑operate in support of the wider understanding of
nuclear energy and its development. A MoU was also signedwith the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry(CRIEPI), Japan, to deepen respective understanding of the
global research needs in the area of nuclear energy.

Contact:

Giovanna Piccarreta
Counsellor for international affairs+33 (0)1 73 21 28 06
giovanna.piccarreta@oecd-nea.org

GENERAL INFORMATION

Organisational Structureof the NEA
The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is a semi-autonomous
body of the Organisation for Economic Co operation
and Development. OECD member countries wishing toparticipate in the activities of the Agency must make a formal
request to join. The NEA currently has 33 member countries:
Argentina

Luxembourg

Australia

MexicoAustria

Netherlands

Belgium

NorwayCanadaPolandCzech Republic

Portugal

Denmark

Romania

Finland

RussiaFranceSlovak Republic

Germany

Slovenia

GreeceSpain

Hungary

SwedenIceland

Switzerland

IrelandTurkeyItaly

United Kingdom

Japan

United States

Korea
The NEA is governed by the Steering Committee for
Nuclear Energy. This committee is primarily made up ofsenior officials from national atomic energy authorities andassociated ministries. It oversees and shapes the work of the
Agency to ensure its responsiveness to member countries’
needs, notably in establishing the biennial programmes ofwork and budgets. It approves the mandates of the sevenstanding technical committees and one management board(see page 72).
In 2019, the members of the Bureau of the Steering
Committee for Nuclear Energy were:• Dr Marta ŽIAKOVÁ (Slovak Republic), Chair• Dr Won-Pil BAEK (Korea), Vice Chair• Ms Anne LAZAR-SURY (France), Vice Chair• Dr Fiona RAYMENT (United Kingdom), Vice Chair• Mr James R. WARDEN (United States), Vice Chair• Dr Hiroshi YAMAGATA (Japan), Vice Chair
The standing technical commit tees and the
management board of the Data Bank are composed ofmember country experts and technical specialists. These
NEA bodies constitute a unique feature and importantstrength of the NEA, providing flexibility for adapting to newissues and helping to achieve consensus rapidly. Their mainareas of work are listed in the chart on page 72.
The Steering Committee for Nuclear Energy and the
Agency’s eight standing technical committees and one
management board are serviced by the NEA Secretariat,
composed in 2019 of 104 professional and support staff from
21 countries. Professional staff are often specialists fromnational administrations and research institutes, bringing theirexperience to the Agency for two to five years on average.
Participation in the work of the Agency by non-member
countries is an established practice. Experts from selected
partner countries, including China and India, take part in
NEA activities on an invitee or participant basis.

OECD Boulogne building.

73

NEA COMMITTEE STRUCTURE IN 2019

Steering Committee for Nuclear Energy

Committee
Committee on
Decommission- on Radiologicaling of Nuclear Protection andPublic HealthInstallationsand Legacy
Management
CRPPH

Nuclear Law
Committee

Expert Groupon International
Recommendations(EGIR)

Working Partyon Deep Geological
Repositories andNuclear Liability(WPDGR)

Committee
on Nuclear
Regulatory
Activities

Committee
on the Safetyof Nuclear
Installations

Radioactive
WasteManagement
Committee

CNRA

CSNI

RWMC

Working Group on
Safety Culture(WGSC)CSNI Programme
Review Group(CSNI PRG)

Regulators’ Forum
(RF)

CDLM

Working Groupon Inspection
Practices(WGIP)

Working Groupon Risk Assessment(WGRISK)

Working Party on
Information, Data
and Knowledge
Management(WP-IDKM)

Regulators’ Forum(RF)

Working Group on
Operating Experience(WGOE)
Working Group on
the Regulationof New Reactors(WGRNR)
Working Groupon the Safety of
Advanced Reactors(WGSAR)
Working Groupon Digital
Instrumentation
and Control(WGDIC)
Working Group on
Codes and Standards(WGCS)
Working Groupon PublicCom­mu­nication of
Nuclear Regulatory
Organisations(WGPC)
Working Party
on Boiling Water
Reactors(WPBWR)

Working Groupon Analysis andManagement of
Accidents(WGAMA)
Working Groupon Integrity andAgeing ofComponents
and Structures(WGIAGE)Working Groupon Humanand Organisational
Factors(WGHOF)
Working Groupon Fuel Safety(WGFS)
Working Groupon Fuel Cycle Safety(WGFCS)
Working Groupon External Events(WGEV)
Working Groupon ElectricalPower Systems(WGELEC)

Expert Group on
Character­isation
Methodology of
Unconventionaland Legacy Waste(EGCUL)
Expert Group on
the Application of
Robotics and Remote
Systems in
the Nuclear Back-end(EGRRS)
Expert Group on
Building Constructive
Dialogues between
Regulators and
Implementers in
Developing Disposal
Solutions forRadioactive Waste(RIDD)
Integration Groupfor the Safety Case
(IGSC)
Forumon Stakeholder
Confidence(FSC)

Expert Groupon Recovery
Management(EGRM)
Expert Group on
the Dose Limit for
the Lens of the Eye(EGDLE)
Working Partyon Nuclear
Emergency
Matters(WPNEM)

NLC

Working Partyon the Legal Aspectsof Nuclear Safety(WPLANS)
Working Partyon Nuclear Liability
and Transport(WPNLT)

Committee forTechnical andEconomic Studies
on Nuclear Energy
Development andthe Fuel Cycle

NuclearScienceCommittee

NDC

Expert Groupon Multi-physics
Experimental Data,
Benchmarks andValidation(EGMPEBV)Working Party on
Nuclear Energy Economics(WPNE)
Joint NEA/IAEA Groupon Uranium (UG)
Ad Hoc Expert Group on
the Estimation of Potential
Losses Due to Nuclear
Accidents, Liability Issues
and Their Impact
on Electricity Costs(COSTNA)
Ad Hoc Expert Groupon Climate Change:
Assessment of the
Vulnerability of Nuclear
Power Plants and Costof Adaptation (NUCA)
Ad Hoc Expert
Group on the Role andEconomics of Nuclear
Co-generation ina Low-carbon Energy
Future (COGEN)
Expert Group on
the Economics of Extended
Storage of Spent Nuclear
Fuel (EGEES)
Expert Groupon Back-end Strategies(BEST)
Expert Group on Advanced
Reactor Systems
and Future Energy Market
Needs (ARFEM)
Expert Group on Uranium
Mining and Economic
Development (UMED)Ad Hoc Expert Groupon Maintaining
Low-Carbon Generation
Capacity through LTO
of Nuclear Power Plants:
Economic, Technical andPolicy Aspects (EGLTO)
Ad Hoc Expert Groupon Reducing the Costs of
Nuclear Power Generation(REDCOST)

74 | NEA Annual Report 2019

NSC

Working Partyon International
Nuclear Data
Evaluation
Co-operation(WPEC)
Working Partyon Scientific Issuesof the Fuel Cycle(WPFC)
Working Partyon Multi-scale
Modelling of Fuels
and Structural
Materials for
Nuclear Systems(WPMM)
Working Partyon Nuclear
Criticality Safety(WPNCS)
Working Partyon ScientificIssues of Reactor
Systems(WPRS)

Management
Board for theDevelopment,
Application
and Validationof Nuclear
Data and Codes

MBDAV
Joint EvaluatedFission and
Fusion (JEFF) Nuclear
Data Library
Co-ordination GroupNEA MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE IN 2019

William D. Magwood, IV
NEA Director-General

Vacantpost

Nobuhiro Muroya
Deputy Director-Generalfor Management and Planning

Deputy Director-General andChief Nuclear Officer

Helena Potter
Head ofthe Office of Budget and Finance

Véronique Rouyer
Head ofthe Division of Nuclear
Safety Technology andRegulation

Daniela Lulache
Head ofthe Office of Policy
and Co-ordination

Yeonhee Hah
Head ofthe Division of RadiologicalProtection and Human
Aspects of Nuclear Safety

Rebecca Tadesse
Head ofthe Division of Radioactive Waste
Management and Decommissioning

Andrew Macintyre
Head ofthe Central Secretariat

Olvido Guzmán
Senior Advisor for
Multilateral Co-operation

Kenya Suyama
Head ofthe Data Bank

Ximena Vásquez-Maignan
Head ofthe Office of Legal Counsel

Tatiana Ivanova
Head ofthe Division of Nuclear Science

Sama Bilbao y León
Head ofthe Division of Nuclear Technology
Development and Economics

75

NEA PUBLICATIONS AND BROCHURES PRODUCED IN 2019
All NEA publications are available free of charge on the NEA website.

General Interest
2018 NEA
Annual Report

Annual Report 2018

NEA News, No. 36.2

NEA News

NEA No. 7462. 76 pages.

NEA No. 7402. 32 pages.

2019 – No. 37.1

http://oe.cd/nea-2018-en

https://oe.cd/NEA-36-2

NEA News, No. 37.1

Rapport annuel 2018
AEN n° 7463. 80 pages.

The true costs of decarbonisation
Sustaining multinational nuclear fuel andmaterials testing capacities for safety, industry
and science

http://oe.cd/nea-2018-fr

Nuclear Power in 2018
Building Knowledge for the Future

NEA No. 7464. 28 pages.

In this issue:

https://oe.cd/NEA-37-1

Knowledge management and the sustainabilityof the nuclear sector

NEA Activities by Sector

and more...

Nuclear Energy Agency
uclearnergy
gency

28 pages.
Also available in French, Chineseand Russian.
Available online at:
http://oe.cd/neabrochurel’énergie nucléaire
Données sur

NEA No. 7472. 12 pages.
Available online at: https://oe.cd/2QR

NEA No. 7474. 102 pages.

The central concept of NI2050, beyond
technology development aspects, consistsof building together, among truly interested
parties, pipelines for testing, validation andqualification of technologies before thesetechnologies become industrial products,
ensuring that all stakeholders, in particularregulators, are involved from an early stageof the process. These pipelines have to
be set up and themselves validated usinga sample of the technology, selected
together by all stakeholders. Once apipeline 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 productand for each separate country or market.

Available online at:
http://oe.cd/
nuclear-data-2019

Nuclear Energy Data is 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 to2040, where available. Country reportssummarise energy policies, updates of thestatus in nuclear energy programmes andfuel cycle developments. In 2018, nuclear
power continued to supply significant
amounts of low-carbon baseload electricity,
despite strong competition from low-costfossil fuels and subsidised renewableenergy 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 andthe United Kingdom. Further details onthese and other developments are provided
in the publication’s numerous tables, graphs
and country reports.

76 | NEA Annual Report 2019

AN ECONOMIC

MedicalDIAGNOSISAND POSSIBLE

SOLUTIONSThe Supply of Medical
Isotopes
An Economic Diagnosis
and Possible Solutions

SOLUTIONS

2019

NE A

2019/Données surl’énergie nucléaire 2019The Supply of
Isotopes

AND POSSIBLE

Data

2019

An NEA initiative to accelerate R&D and market
deployment of innovative
nuclear fission technologies to contribute to asustainable energy future

DIAGNOSISl’énergie

Nuclear Innovation 2050

AN ECONOMIC

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Energy Data
surDonnées nuclé
aire

and
to accelerate R&D
An NEA initiative of innovative nuclear
ent
temarket deploymgies to contribu
fission technolo
energy future
to a sustainable

Medical Isotopes

Nuclear Energy Dataand Economics
Development
nucléaires
Nuclear Technology
des technologies
développement
Économie et2019

0Nuclear INNovatIoN 205

The Supply of

Nuclear technology
development andeconomics

NEA No. 7476. 122 pages.
Available online at:https://oe.cd/2N-

This report explores the main reasons
behind the unreliable supply ofTechnetium‑99m (Tc‑99m) in health caresystems and policy options to address theissue. Tc‑99m is used in 85% of nuclear
medicine diagnostic scans performed
worldwide – around 30 million patient
examinations every year. These scansallow diagnoses of diseases in many partsof 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‑timethrough a complex supply chain. However,ageing production facilities and a lackof 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 structureof the supply chain. It concludes that themain reasons for unreliable supply arethat production is not economically viable
and that the structure of the supply.chain
prevents producers from charging pricesthat reflect the full costs of production andsupply.

Nuclear safety
and regulation
Nuclear Safety
2019

n Paper

CSNI Technical Opinio
No. 17ts
ic Safety Assessmen
Fire Probabilist
Plants: 2019 Update
for Nuclear PowerCSNI Technical Opinion
Paper No. 17
Fire Probabilistic Safety
Assessments for Nuclear
Power Plants: 2019 Update

NEA

NEA No. 7417. 40 pages.

A preliminary framework for a stepwise
process to help reach an accepted andsustainable end-state is proposed based on
this experience. The complex challenges
and interactions among stakeholders inprogressing in a harmonised, step-by-stepmanner 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 thecomplexity of the relevant interactions.

Available online at: https://oe.cd/2C4
CSNI Technical Opinion Paper No. 17:
Fire Probabilistic Safety Assessments
for Nuclear Power Plants: 2019 Update
provides an authoritative review of thecurrent status and use of the fire PSA
in nuclear power plants. The reportdemonstrates that while fires at aparticular plant site are highly dependent
on plant and site specific factors, they arenonetheless 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 orreviewing fire PSAs, and researchers in
identifying areas requiring further study.

cificCountry-Spe
ure Forum
Safety Cult

Finland

Country-Specific Safety
Culture Forum
Finland
NEA No. 7488. 62 pages.
Available online at:https://oe.cd/
nea-csscf-finland

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 withcomponents and systems and compare
operational experiences, but identifying
how human behaviour affects safety
and the best approaches to examine thisbehaviour from country to country remains
less common.

Leaders
Insights fromy:in Nuclear Energmance,
Safety, Perfor
ity
and Responsibil

Chairman,Toyoshi Fuketa, n Authority, Japan
Nuclear Regulatio

NEA

Radiological Protectionand Human Aspects of
Nuclear Safety
Radiological
2019

Protectionar

Challenges in Nuclel Legacy
Challenges inand RadiologicantSite Manageme

Nuclear and Radiological

Towards a Common
Framework

Regulatory

Legacy Site Management

NE A

Challenges in Nuclear
and Radiological Legacy
Site Management
Towards a Common
Regulatory Framework
NEA No. 7419. 156 pages.

Available online at: https://oe.cd/2Qq
Many countries are dealing with challenges
stemming from nuclear and radiologicallegacy sites. In particular, managing thesesites 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 thechallenges and lessons learnt in legacy
management and regulation based onpractical experience documented in
13 case studies and site visits conductedby the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency.

The Country Specific Safety Culture Forumwas created to gain a better understandingof 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 toensure 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.

12 pages.
Available online at:https://oe.cd/2C5

Insights from Leaders in Nuclear Energy
shares personal insights through a series ofin-depth conversations between the OECD
Nuclear Energy Agency Director-Generaland leading figures in the sector. Each conversation explores the current issues andoffers new ways to address challenges andaim 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 awide-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 wellas ongoing challenges, Chairman Fuketa’s
perspective and insights and new directions
for the NRA.

Leaders
Insights fromy:in Nuclear Energ
for Safety
Leadership
Director-General,
Hans Wanner,
Inspectorate
Nuclear Safety
Swiss Federal(ENSI)
Officer,
Chief Nuclear
Mike Harrison,
EDF Energy

NEA

Practical experience has neverthelessshown that there are important differencesin how people work together andcommunicate across borders. People’s
behaviours, attitudes and values do notstop at the gate of a nuclear installation,
and awareness of the systemic nature ofculture and its deeper aspects, such as the
dynamics of how values and assumptions
influence behaviours, continues to evolve.

Insights from Leaders in
Nuclear Energy: Safety,
Performance, andResponsibility

Insights from Leadersin Nuclear Energy:
Leadership for Safety
20 pages.
Available online at:https://oe.cd/2KR

Insights from Leaders in Nuclear Energy
shares personal insights through a series ofin-depth conversations between the OECD
Nuclear Energy Agency Director-Generaland leading figures in the sector. Eachconversation explores current issues andoffers new ways to address challenges andaim for excellence.
Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) DirectorGeneral William D. Magwood, IV sat
down with ENSI Director-General Wannerand EDF Energy 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 relationshipbetween the regulator and operator.

77

NEA PUBLICATIONS AND BROCHURES PRODUCED IN 2019y Agency
Nuclear Energ
ation
Future Gener
Mentoring arsof Fema le Leade eeringand Enginin Science
Joshikai inInternational
for Future Scientists: Decommissioning
Fukushima
andEngineeringin Science,

Mentoring Workshop

NE A

Human Aspectsof Nuclear Safety

2019

tion

Multi-Stage Validation

ValidaMulti-StagePower Plantof Nuclear Powerof Nuclear
Designs
Control Room ns
and Modificatio

Mentoring a Future
Generation of Female
Leaders in Science andEngineering
NEA No. 7514. 20 pages.
Available online at:https://oe.cd/2QP

Plant Control
Room Designs

Multi-Stage Validationof Nuclear Power Plant
Control Room Designs
and Modifications

This report includes a global occupational
exposure data and analysis collected andaccomplished in 2016, information on the
programme events and achievements aswell as principal events in participating
countries.

Radioactive waste
managementgand Modifications

NE A

NEA No. 7466. 72 pages.

Radioactive Waste
2019

Management

marking
Cost BenchPowerfor Nuclear
oning
Plant Decommissi

Available online at:https://oe.cd/2Oe
A mature and well-guided multistage approach to the validation of nuclear
power plant control room designs has thepotential to reduce the risks involved in
the design process. Such an approach canalso increase the effectiveness of, andefficiencies in, the validation process, aswell as overall confidence in the results.
This relatively new concept of multi-stage
validation has yet to be defined in thetechnical literature, and thus the report
describes the approach and the rationale
for validating systems through a seriesof successive, co-ordinated validation
activities. The scope of application of multiscale validation addressed in the context
of this report includes aspects related
to both the human factors engineeringof new nuclear power plant main control
room designs and modifications to existing
control room designs. The objective is toprovide a common reference for future
dialogue, research and development
concerning the multi-stage validation
approach, and ultimately to support thesafe operation of nuclear power plants
worldwide.

Occupational Exposures
at Nuclear Power Plants
Twenty-Sixth Annual
Report of the ISOE
Programme, 2016

and Decommissionin

NEA No. 7460. 60 pages.
NEA

This 26th Annual Report of the International
System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE)
Programme presents the status of theProgramme 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 underconstruction), as well as the regulatory
authorities in 26 countries. The ISOE
database includes occupational exposure
information for over 400 units, coveringover 85% of the world’s operating
commercial power reactors.

78 | NEA Annual Report 2019

Available online at:https://oe.cd/2KQ

The nuclear sector has in recent years beenplacing increasing attention on the need
to better understand variations between
cost estimates for the decommissioningof nuclear power plants, as well as therelationship between estimated and actual
costs, and the apparent escalation of thesecosts. Building on previous work by the
Nuclear Energy Agency, Cost Benchmarking
for Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning
examines approaches and methods forthe benchmarking of nuclear power plant
decommissioning costs. Particular focus isgiven to identifying key factors, drivers andconstraints to implementing cost benchmarking. These factors are addressed froma broad range of perspectives in order todevelop a roadmap for implementation thatwill garner sufficiently broad support from awide 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 thesebarriers.

gRadioactive Waste
2019

Management

and Decommissioninof Records,
Preservationand
MemoryKnowledges Generations(RK&M) Acros
Final Report of

the RK&M Initiative

NEA No. 7453. 126 pages.
Available online at: https://oe.cd/2C6

Cost Benchmarking for
Nuclear Power Plant
Decommissioning

NEA

Preservation of Records,
Knowledge and Memory(RK&M) AcrossGenerations: Final
Report of the RK&M
Initiative
NEA No. 7421. 180 pages.

Available online at: https://oe.cd/2PhRadioactive 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 toprovide the oversight that is necessary
to ensure that they are not forgotten bysociety. In response to this challenge,
the Nuclear Energy Agency launched
the international initiative Preservation ofRecords, 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 toaddress it. The RK&M preservation
toolbox, for example, offers a menu with35 different preservation mechanisms
and guidelines on how to combine andimplement them.
This report may be used as a general guideto the RK&M preservation topic. It presents
a historical review, addresses ethicalconsiderations, analyses the fundamentals
of RK&M preservation, outlines various
mechanisms and indicates how to developthese mechanisms into a systemic RK&M
preservation strategy. The report aims toinspire and assist a variety of actors so thatthey can discuss and develop national andrepository-specific RK&M preservation
strategies.

Preservation of Records,
Knowledge and Memory
across Generations:
Developing a Key
Information File for a
Radioactive Waste
Repository
NEA No. 7377. 62 pages.
Available online at: https://oe.cd/2C7
Radioactive waste repositories aredesigned to be intrinsically safe in thatthey are not dependent on the presence
or intervention of humans. In response tothis challenge, the Nuclear Energy Agency
initiated the Preservation of Records,
Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) AcrossGenerations initiative, calling on theinternational 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 beendeveloped into an important component ofa RK&M preservation strategy. The KIF is
designed to be a single, short document,
produced in a standard format, with theaim of allowing society to understand thenature and intent of a repository, and thus
to reduce the likelihood of unnecessary
human intrusion. It should be madeopenly available and ultimately be widelydistributed.
This report describes the KIF concept
in detail, in a manner that should enable
those concerned with any particularrepository to create their own versions.
Three draft key information files, currently
under development to support RK&M
preservation in France, Sweden and theUnited States, are provided as examples.

ingRadioactive Waste
2019

Management

and Decommission

ds,

Recor
Preservationandof Memory
Preservation

Knowledges Generations(RK&M) Acrosof Records, Knowledgeof Essential Records
Compiling a Set Waste Repositoryefor a Radioactiv

and Memory
Across Generations:
Compiling a Set
of Essential Records
for a Radioactive
Waste Repository

NEA

Preservation of Records,
Knowledge and Memory(RK&M) AcrossGenerations: Compilinga Set of Essential
Records for a
Radioactive Waste
Repository

NEA No. 7423. 92 pages.
Available online at: https://oe.cd/2KP
Radioactive waste repositories aredesigned 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 initiatedthe Preservation of Records, Knowledge
and Memory (RK&M) Across Generations
initiative, calling on the international community to help create specific means topreserve 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 ofrecords to form part of the SER.

Nuclear science andthe Data Bank
Nuclear Science2019

Co-operation
Internationaltionr Data Evalua
in Nucleaof theAn Extended Summary al EvaluatedProject
Collaborative Internationon (CIELO) Pilot
Library Organisati

NEA

International
Co-operation in Nuclear
Data Evaluation
An Extended Summary of
the Collaborative
International EvaluatedLibrary Organisation(CIELO) Pilot Project

NEA No. 7498. 36 pages.
Available online at: https://oe.cd/nea-cielo
Current knowledge of the nuclear
physics of fuels and materials provides
an understanding and simulation of
the operations of nuclear reactors andother systems, both under ordinary andexceptional circumstances. As part of abroad spectrum of collaborative activities
underpinning research in basic nuclear
sciences, the Nuclear Energy Agency(NEA) is supporting collaboration between
experimentalists, theoreticians andmodelling 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 resultsfrom technical experts in the People’s
Republic of China, in the context of the
NEA Collaborative International EvaluatedLibrary Organisation (CIELO) Pilot Project.
It reviews recent developments resulting
from new measurements and semiempirical models, as well as the validationof the CIELO nuclear data evaluations
against suites of systems representing awide range of current and future nuclear
facilities. The CIELO project has delivered
new, evaluated data for the isotopes ofuranium, plutonium, iron, oxygen andhydrogen, which have been adopted in all
nuclear data libraries released since the
CIELO project was completed.
Nuclear Science
September 2019

Handbook
International
Criticalityof Evaluatedsmark Experiment
Safety Bench

NEA

International Handbookof Evaluated Criticality
Safety Benchmark
Experiments – 2019
NEA No. 7497. DVD.

The Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation
Project (CSBEP) was initiated in 1992
by the United States Department ofEnergy. The project quickly became aninternational effort as scientists fromother 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 tovalidate calculation techniques used toestablish 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 avalidation 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 andcontain 574 evaluations with benchmark
specifications for 4 973 critical, nearcritical or subcritical configurations, 45
criticality alarm placement/shielding
configurations with multiple dose points
for each, and 237 configurations whichhave been categorised as fundamental
physics measurements that are relevant
to criticality safety applications.New tothe handbook are subcritical experimentswith 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 isshown on the handbook cover. The 2019
edition is available online at: https://doi.
org/10.1787/110ba6fc-en.
Nuclear Science
November 2019

ook of
International Handb
or Physics
Evaluated React iments
Benchmark Exper

NEA

International Handbookof Evaluated Reactor
Physics Benchmark
Experiments – 2019
NEA No. 7496. DVD.

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 tovalidate calculation techniques and data.
While co-ordination and administrationof the International Reactor Physics
Evaluation (IRPhE) project is undertakenby the Nuclear Energy Agency(NEA) at the international level, eachparticipating country is responsible forthe administration, technical direction
and priorities of the project within theirrespective countries. The informationand data included in this handbook areavailable to NEA member countries, to allcontributing countries and to others on acase-by-case basis. Example calculations
are presented; however, these do notconstitute validation or endorsement of thecodes or cross-section data.
The 2019 edition of the International
Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics
Benchmark Experiments contains datafrom 166 experimental series that were
performed at 56 nuclear facilities. A totalof 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 havebeen added to this edition of the handbook.
The 2019 edition is available online at:https://doi.org/10.1787/8d549c0f-en.

79

NEA PUBLICATIONS AND BROCHURES PRODUCED IN 2019

Nuclear law

Nuclear Law Bulletin
No. 101

Legal Affairs
2018

Nuclear Law Bulletin
No. 101

The Legal FrameworkssLegal Frameworkfor Long-Termar
Operation of Nucle
Power Reactors

for Long-Term

Legal Frameworks forLong-Term Operation of
Nuclear Power Reactors

Operation of
Nuclear PowerNEA No. 7504. 176 pages.

Reactors

http://oe.cd/nea-lto-npp

With almost 70% of theoperating 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 andpotentially 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, theinformation gathered can serve as a vital
resource for future exchanges respecting
the legal aspects of LTO, with a view tofurther development and strengtheningof the collective understanding of theseissues.

80 | NEA Annual Report 2019

Nuclear Law Bulletin
No. 102

Volume 2018/2

Volume 2018/2

Legal Affairs
2019

Nuclear Law Bulletin
No. 102

Legal Affairs
2019

Volume 2019/1

Volume 2019/1

NEA No. 7427. 148 pages.
NEA

Also available in French.
Available online at:https://oe.cd/nea-nlb-101

The Nuclear Law Bulletin is a uniqueinternational publication for bothprofessionals and academics in thefield of nuclear law. It provides readerswith authoritative and comprehensive
information on nuclear law developments.
Published free online twice a year in both
English and French, it features topicalarticles written by renowned legal experts,
covers legislative developments worldwide
and reports on relevant case law, bilateraland international agreements as well
as regulatory activities of internationalorganisations.
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 areasof nuclear security and nuclear safety: An
impossible parallel?”.

NEA No. 7501. 124 pages.
NEA

Available online at:https://oe.cd/nea-nlb-102

The Nuclear Law Bulletin is a uniqueinternational publication for bothprofessionals and academics in thefield of nuclear law. It provides readerswith authoritative and comprehensive
information on nuclear law developments.
Published free online twice a year in both
English and French, it features topicalarticles written by renowned legal experts,
covers legislative developments worldwide
and reports on relevant case law, bilateraland international agreements as well
as regulatory activities of internationalorganisations.
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”.

ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENTThe OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 37 democracies work together to address the economic,
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to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co operation, thescientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally sound and economical use of
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to provide authoritative assessments and to forge common understandings on key issues as input togovernment decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD analyses in areas such as energy and thesustainable development of low-carbon economies.

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Also available in French under the title:

AEN – RAPPORT ANNUEL – 2019

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Cover page photo credits: Installation of a remote-controlled arm for underwater cutting, Orano GmbH and Brokdorf nuclear power plant,
Germany, GFDL, Alois Staudacher.

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