The second edition of the ETSON Conference entitled “TSO challenges in a rapidly evolving environment” will take place in Brussels on 11 & 12 October 2023.
 

HARMONISE project partners will have clustering activities with high-level Key Stakeholders, with the aim of mutual benefits.

In view of the renewed interest and initiatives in nuclear energy in numerous countries in Europe and around the world, the members of the European Technical Safety Organisations Network (ETSON) – a grouping of 17 EU TSOs and their associated members in Japan, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom – have started a network-wide reflection on its future strategy.

As part of the Junior Staff Programme (JSP) of the European Nuclear Safety Organizations Network (ETSON), IRSN welcomed more than twenty participants to Cherbourg on the general theme of the release of radioactive material - sea and atmosphere - and radioactive waste.

Around 60 ETSON members met in Munich from 11 to 13 October 2022 for the first ETSON Conference. Representatives of the 14 European Technical Safety Organisations (TSOs) and Japan were present. Despite the current war, Ukraine was able to show its presence online and was represented with a virtual keynote speech to kick off the event. In addition to the member organisations of the ETSON network, experts from the European Commission (EC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also attended the conference. The event replaced the IAEA TSO Conference that was originally scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg.

The Fukushima events have highlighted the need for improved safety approaches and numerical tools to assess hydrogen risk. In this regard and under the auspices of ETSON, two main projects are underway. The first is to organize benchmarks for hydrogen combustion codes and the second is to develop Technical Safety Assessment Guidelines (TSAG) for hydrogen risk assessment expected to be completed by the end of 2022. 

Concerning the situation in the Ukraine, some members of ETSON have published notes and reports.

During the last weeks, I have observed the status of nuclear safety in Ukraine with regard to the Russian Federation’s continued attacks against Ukraine with great concern. I specifically reviewed the nuclear safety implications of the attacks against nuclear installations in Ukraine, which I strongly condemn. 

First prize to an UNIBO-ENEA-IRSN team for safety studies of SMR severe accidents, second prize to a PSI team for the use of the surgical mask as an emergency dosimeter, at the EUROSAFE Forum in Paris-Montrouge.

Despite the sanitary and travels restrictions, 220 participants from 20 countries attended this European conference for the nuclear and radioprotection community. The symposium "After the Fukushima Daiichi accident: adapting to the unexpected" was organized by IRSN following the EUROSAFE Forum.