The small modular nuclear power reactors under development represent a new way of thinking about nuclear energy. 

In autumn 2019 VTT launched the multi-year domestic project “dECOmm: Finnish Ecosystem for New International Decommissioning Services” bringing together Finnish expertise that will prove useful in the forthcoming effort to decommission nuclear power plants both in Finland and abroad. 

The objective of the Finnish Research Programme on Nuclear Power Plant Safety 2019-2022 (SAFIR2022) is to ensure that should new matters related to the safe use of nuclear power plants arise, the authorities possess sufficient technical expertise and other competence required for rapidly determining the significance of the matters.

Coordinated public research programmes on nuclear waste management have been active in Finland since 1989. 

VTT continues to support Finland progressing towards having the first-in-the-world licenced deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel. 

In a recent virtual workshop of the European Technical Safety Organisations Network (ETSON), nuclear safety experts of the network´s member organisations explored the consequences of the current Covid-19 pandemic for nuclear safety and discussed respective countermeasures.

PERSEO is a full scale facility aimed at studying a new passive decay heat removal system operating in natural circulation.

Unexpected methane and CO₂ releases from the ground and noble and conventional gases in groundwater could be favored by stress produced by geological and seismic phenomena.

SIET S.p.A. is a small joint-stock company with public and private capital, ENEA is the main shareholder.

Thanks to funding from the Emilia Romagna Region, a new Science Park is under development in the outskirts of Bologna to host several scientific and technological agencies and institutions of national and international relevance.

The seawall is one of the main coastal protection structures against tsunamis. Estimating tsunami wave pressures on a structure is quite important when designing seawalls.

Uranium is an important nuclear material and contaminant with respect to the sites of uranium mining and whole nuclear facilities.

The regulatory guide for reviewing the licensee's technical report for the extension of the operating period of commercial power reactors, enacted in November 2013, requires evaluation of the proof stress of the concrete structures of nuclear power plants operated for more than 40 years if the neutron fluence exceeds or may exceed a certain limit where neutron irradiation affects the concrete strength.

A new risk-informed and performance-based inspection program will be enacted from April 2020. A part of this program builds on the information obtained from a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA).