News from ETSON and its members*
News from ETSON and its members*
The main objectives of the Uncertainty Management multi-Actor Network (UMAN) are to provide an opportunity to different actors of EU Member States involved in radioactive waste management programmes to share their experiences and views on uncertainty management and to identify emerging needs that could be addressed in subsequent waves of the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management (EURAD).
For many years, even decades, there have been endless discussions on what values to use when performing clearance based on surface specific measurements. The definition of contamination in the Transport Regulation by IAEA and an old study by Fairbairn, gave rise to the numbers 0.04 Bq/cm2 for radiotoxic alpha-emitters and 0.4 Bq/cm2 for beta/gamma emitters. These values are widely used, but also often contested and challenged. Only a thorough, comprehensive study on the derivation of nuclide specific surface clearance levels can give a founded answer to the raised issues.
Historically, the first fire protection regulations to be implemented could be described as prescriptive (or deterministic), where the performance requirements of fire protection equipment are fixed. An example of such requirement is the need to segregate Structures, Systems & Components (SSCs) important for safety with fire-rated barriers ensuring standard resistance to fire propagation between compartments (e.g. for 3 hours according to U.S. NRC regulations). Such ratings are based on standardized testing procedures (ASTM, NFPA, EN...) performed under defined conditions (like the ISO 834 time-temperature curve).
The consequences of the radiological and nuclear emergencies may vary from an overexposure of a single person to a transboundary catastrophe with multiple victims and massive radiation contamination. In light of the effort and resources potentially involved in the mitigation, assessment of the radiological consequences during an emergency is a vital stage in the planning and response.
In February 2020, a project was launched at VTT to develop a nuclear district heating plant for the Finnish market. The developed technology is called the Low-Temperature District Heating and Desalination Rector, or LDR.
Finland has two ongoing national research programmes in the nuclear sector: KYT2022 and SAFIR2022. The two research programmes held a joint Interim Seminar in March.
The reactor water level measurement became unreliable during the Fukushima accident. VTT has analyzed the behavior of the measurement system at unit 2.
ALFRED infrastructure was designed as a Research Infrastructure of global relevance on the HLM and LFR technology.
Different concepts for nuclear heavy water reactors fuel bundles were compared and analysed from the thermo-mechanical point of view by using specific computer codes.
Centre for Energy Research (EK) in Budapest, Hungary was designated as the first Collaborating Centre in Nuclear Forensics of the IAEA in 2016 which was prolonged this year till 2025. The Centre provides laboratory, research and training capacity, expertise, and mentoring opportunities together with scientific collaborations in the field of nuclear security.
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