FISA 2022 EURADWASTE´22

The main objective of these high-level policy conference was to present progress and key achievements of the Euratom research and training projects carried out since 2019 and to stimulate discussions on the state of play of Research and Innovations, key national, European and international challenges and opportunities, as well as exploring future perspectives.

More than 300 participants attended the conference. On the first day of the conference, Marta Žiaková, Chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic and at the same time Chairperson of ENSREG spoke at the conference, presenting the current and future activities of the ENSREG group. The European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group comprises of important representatives of national nuclear regulatory authorities of all Member States of the European Union and representatives of the European Commission. The role of ENSREG is to help create conditions for a continuous improvement, as well as to achieve common understanding in the area of nuclear safety and radioactive waste management.

At the FISA 2022 conference, in Section 1: Safety of nuclear installations, the currently implemented projects of H2020 EURATOM, dedicated to a long-term operation of nuclear power plants were presented. Among them, the project STRUctural MATerials research for a safe Long-Term Operation of LWR NPPs (STRUMAT-LTO) was presented, in implementation of which VUJE has participated since 2020.

In Section 2: Advanced nuclear systems and fuel cycles, two more of our projects were presented: Safety of GFR through innovative materials, technologies and processes (SafeG), where VUJE holds the position of the consortium leader implementing the project. The SafeG project was introduced by its coordinator and at the same time Director of the Nuclear Safety, Research and Development Division, Branislav Hatala. He briefly informed about the objectives and the main results of the project.

The project started in October 2021 and the works have so far focused on reactor core optimization. The result includes two proposals of reactor core optimization for UO2 and MOX fuel type. The next activities were focused on improving the residual heat removal from the reactor core after reactor shutdown. A new qualification procedure was proposed for a new fuel resistant to high temperatures. 

The next presented project, in which VUJE also participates, was the project Plutonium Management for More Agility (PUMMA). The project was introduced by its coordinator Nathalie Cahuvin from CEA.

The afternoon of the second day of the conference EURADWASTE´22 was dedicated to the topic Knowledge Management in Radioactive Waste Management were the currently implemented projects European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management (EURAD) and The Pre-Disposal Management of Radioactive Waste (PREDIS) were presented. At the same time the preparation and continuation of the EURAD project in the next period was discussed.

A poster presentation of research projects funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 EURATOM took place in parallel throughout the week. In addition to our PUMMA and SafeG projects, our new project Training and Tutoring for Experts of the Nuclear Regulatory Authorities and their technical support organizations for developing or strengthening their regulatory and technical capabilities was presented, which we have recently started implementing together with several partners.

The SNETP Forum also took place during the conference. The participants attended six technical sections, where they discussed the current technological innovations in the nuclear industry, such as small modular reactors licensing, research infrastructures to support research, standards for nuclear power installations. The next section addressed the issue of the role of nuclear energy in solving climate issues.