CELEX: 51988PC0416
Language: en
Date: 1988-11-10
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ADOPTING A RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY IN THE FIELD OF REMOTE HANDLING IN NUCLEAR HAZARDOUS AND DISORDERED ENVIRONMENTS ( 1989-1993 ) TELEMAN

No C 311/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                               6. 12. 88
                                                               II
                                                       (Preparatory Acts)
                                                  COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a research and training programme for the European
             Atomic Energy Community in the field of remote handling in nuclear hazardous and disordered
                                        environments (1989 to 1993) — TELEMAN
                                                      COM(88) 416 final
                                    (Submitted by the Commission on 11 November 1988)
                                                        (88/C 311/08)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           Whereas an action in research on remote handling in
                                                                   nuclear, hazardous and disordered environments offers
                                                                   an opportunity to realise these goals more efficiently,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 7
thereof,
                                                                   HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
submitted after consulting the Scientific and Technical
Committee,                                                                                  Article 1
                                                                   A research and training programme for the European
                                                                   Atomic Energy Community in the field of remote
Having regard      to  the   opinion    of   the   European
                                                                   handling in nuclear hazardous and disordered envi-
Parliament,
                                                                   ronments, as defined in the Annex, is hereby adopted for
                                                                   a period of five years from 1 January 1989.
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                                            Article 2
Whereas the Council, by adopting the framework                     The amount deemed necessary for the execution of the
programme of Community research and technological                  programme is 19 million ECU including expenditure on
development (1987 to 1991) ('), acknowledges the                   a staff of four.
importance of contributing to improving the level of
scientific and technical knowledge relevant to nuclear
safety;
                                                                                            Article 3
                                                                   The Commission shall be assisted in the implementation
Whereas the inherent radioactivity of nuclear plants               of the programme by the Management and Coordination
makes remote handling essential for the conduct of                 Advisory Committee CGC-5 for Nuclear Fission
nuclear operations on an industrial scale;                         Reactors and Safety, Safeguards and Fissile Materials
                                                                   Management,       set    up     by   Council    Decision
                                                                   84/338/Euratom/ECSC/EEC (2).
Whereas the safety of nuclear installations and
protection of their environment depends on operators
being able to inspect, maintain and repair plants when
necessary;                                                         The contracts entered into by the Commission shall
                                                                   regulate the rights and obligations of each party, in
                                                                   particular the methods of disseminating, protecting and
Whereas exposure of man to radiation should be kept as             exploiting the research results.
low as reasonably practicable;
(') OJ No L 302, 24. 10. 1987, p. 1.                               (2) OJ No L 177, 4. 7. 1984, p. 25.
 ---pagebreak--- 6. 12. 88                                  Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                             N o C 311/7
                           Article   4                                        Decision and in conformity with the provisions of Article
                                                                              2 (2) of the f r a m e w o r k p r o g r a m m e .
In the third year of the p r o g r a m m e implementation, the
Commission shall u n d e r t a k e a review of the p r o g r a m m e                                              Article      5
and it shall report to the Council and to the E u r o p e a n
Parliament on the results thereof, together, if necessary,                    The         Commission           is a u t h o r i z e d to negotiate, in
with any proposals for modification or prolongation.                          a c c o r d a n c e with Article 101 of the E A E C T r e a t y ,
                                                                              agreements or contracts with a third State, an interna-
An evaluation of the results achieved will be conducted                       tional o r g a n i z a t i o n or a national of a third State, with a
by the Commission, which shall report thereon to the                          view to associating them wholly or partly with this
Council and the Parliament.                                                   programme.
                                                                                                                  Article     6
T h e abovementioned reports shall be established having
regard to the objectives set out in the Annex to this                         This Decision is addressed to the M e m b e r States.
                                                                      ANNEX
             REMOTE HANDLING IN NUCLEAR HAZARDOUS AND DISORDERED ENVIRONMENTS —
                                                                    TELEMAN
                                                                     Objectives
             TELEMAN's objective is to reinforce the scientific and technological base used for the design of nuclear
             remote handling equipment. Tele-operators contribute to the safety and profitability of man and plant
             employed in all parts of the nuclear industry, from mining through reactor operation to reprocessing and
             decommissioning.
             The tele-operators of interest are mechanical arms to which a variety of tools and sensors can be attached,
             manipulators attached to movable gantrys and partially autonomous vehicles equipped for specialized jobs.
             In particular TELEMAN will help the nuclear industry to comply with the requirement that workers be
             exposed to the minimum practicable amount of radiation, always remaining within relevant limits, without
             compromising inspection, maintenance and repair operations.
                                                       Programme technical content
             Area 1: Tele-operator component and subsystem development
             Research and development will be carried out on the utilization, modification and, where necessary, the
             development of sensors, perception and decision making systems, information transmission and engineering
             for tele-operator mobility and dexterity in nuclear environments.
             Area 2: Environmental tolerance
             Research will be carried out throughout the life of the programme on the adaptation of sensors and elec-
             tronic hardware to nuclear environments, the development of machine monitoring systems and design
             strategies that permit easy repair or recovery of stranded machines.
             Area 3: Research machine projects
             Products of research on components and              subsystems will be demonstrated by incorporating them into
             research machines that already exist or into        new machines. Development will be focussed on tele-operators
             that typify nuclear industry requirements,          such as intelligent manipulators and cranes for use in high
             radiation fields, and a mobile platform for        information gathering under normal and abnormal conditions.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 311/8                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                      6. 12. 88
            Area 4: Product evaluation and studies
            End-users of TELEMAN technology will be encouraged to test and evaluate the practicality and reliability
            of the products of the programme in realistic environments to guide the subsequent commercialization of
            successful ones by industry. Studies will be made of topics relating to the application of new technologies,
            new uses for computer assisted tele-operators, the evolution of guidelines and standards and programme
            development.
                                                            Implementation
            Implementation of the projects shall be through cost-shared research and development actions, concerted
            actions, studies and coordination activities. Training/mobility grants shall be included to facilitate the
            assembly of relevant skills at appropriate locations for the work of the projects, and to promote effective
            diffusion of knowledge.
            The Community's participation in shared-cost research contracts will not exceed 50 %.
            Preference will be given to projects in which industry, universities and research organizations from
            Community countries collaborate and participants come from more than one Member State.
                                           Evaluation criteria for TELEMAN programme
           The Commission requires that where possible the objectives and milestones of each research programme be
            set out in a quantitative form to facilitate evaluation.
           The long term objectives (2000) are that operators of nuclear installations should be able to buy world class
            computer assisted tele-operators from Community based manufacturers and that the radiation exposure of
           workers should be appreciably reduced.
           TELEMAN's principal technical objectives relate to reinforcing the scientific and engineering base upon
            which the design of nuclear remote handling is based, to solving problems of manipulation, material
            transport and mobile surveillance within the nuclear environment and to demonstrating the feasibility of
            the solutions offered.
            The technical criteria in terms of which the different aspects of the programme are to be evaluated, initially
            in 1992 and 1993 and more thoroughly in about 1996 are:
            — the extent to which projects were selected against credible technical criteria,
            — the development achieved within TELEMAN projects e.g. whether TELEMAN projects achieved a
                significant (100 %) improvement in performance and performance/price ratios. Typical performance
                parameters might be sensor resolution, power/weight ratio, system response time, etc.,
            — the extent to which different technologies have been integrated,
            — the performance and acceptance of research machines in tests conducted with the participation of
                potential end-users,
            — whether the projects were of high scientific value as judged by the number and impact of patents,
                publications in refereed journals and invited contributions to conferences. Output should be compared
                with that from other similar programmes being executed elsewhere.
            TELEMAN's industrial objectives relate to more effective application of investment in research, generation
            of awareness of the potential of computer assisted tele-operators, and creation of a pool of experienced
            firms and engineers able to exploit research machines and manage the application of the new technology.
 ---pagebreak--- 6. 12. 88                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 311/9
             The industrial criteria in terms of which the different aspects of the programme are to be evaluated are:
             — whether the calls for proposals attracted sufficient industrial interest to permit formulation of a
                 coherent programme. The criterion of sufficiency would be that the ratio resources proffered by
                 industrial contractors to Community funding be greater than 1,5,
             — the extent to which projects were selected against credible industrial criteria,
             — that at least half the proposals received envisage a major role for a university or research laboratory in
                 a Member State other than that of an industrial partner,
             — the extent to which links formed to execute TELEMAN projects have continued and led to joint devel-
                 opment of industrial products, new multinational firms or new research projects,
             — application of technology and patents <*rising from TELEMAN are applied by other firms and in other
                 industries.
             Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 86/298/EEC on rear-mounted roll-over
                     protection structures for narrow-track wheeled agricultural and forestry tractors
                                                  COM(88) 626 final — SYN 163
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 21 November 1988)
                                                           (88/C 311/09)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                               reflects the situation in the event of tractor roll-over in
                                                                       order that these two test procedures may be rendered
                                                                       equivalent and the present imbalance between them elim-
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                  inated;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a
thereof,
                                                                       Whereas the purely theoretical parameters and calcu-
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                     lations on which the additional dynamic impact test was
                                                                       initially based have been the subject of practical
                                                                       experiments that leave no doubt as to their reliability;
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                      Whereas it is also necessary to amend the scope of the
                                                                       Directive so as to clarify the wording of the second
                                                                       indent of Article 1 concerning the tyres fitted to the
Whereas it is necessary to adopt measures which are                    front and rear axles, and thus eliminate any possibility of
intended gradually to establish the internal market over a             differing interpretations;
period expiring on 31 December 1992; whereas the
internal market consists of an entity without internal
frontiers within which the free movement of goods,
persons, services and capital is ensured;                              Whereas, finally, Article 12 of Directive 86/298/EEC
                                                                       lays down the procedure governing the adaptation to
                                                                       technical progress of the Annexes to that Directive;
Whereas Article 13 of Council Directive 86/298/CEE (l)                 whereas, however, technical progress makes it necessary
lays down that the provisions at present in force shall be             promptly to adapt the requirements set out in the
supplemented by provisions introducing additional                      Annexes to the Directive and the technical requirements
impact tests into the dynamic test procedure;                          defined in the separate Directives; whereas the
                                                                       Commission should be made responsible for the adoption
                                                                       thereof in order to simplify and expedite this procedure;
Whereas, since provision is already made for an                        whereas, in all cases where the Council empowers the
additional test in the case of the static test procedure, it           Commission to implement rules established in the agri-
is necessary also in that of the dynamic test procedure to             cultural or forestry tractor sector, it is necessary to
provide for an additional test which more accurately                   provide for a procedure for prior consultation, within an
                                                                       Advisory Committee, between the Commission and the
 (') OJ No L 186, 8. 7. 1986, p. 26.                                    Member States,