Mid-term review symposium on shared-cost and concerted actions in reactor safety
The proceedings of the second international symposium on "EU Research on Severe Accidents" (FISA'97), held in Luxembourg from 17 to 19 November 1997, have recently been published by the Commission. The symposium, organized by the European Commission (DG XII F/5), was intended as a mid-term review of the research projects launched in 1996 and 1997 in the field of light water reactor (LWR) safety. These contracts are funded under areas A.1 and B of the Nuclear Fission Safety research programme, within the EURATOM Framework Programme (1994-1998). The aim of these research projects is to address the entire spectrum of severe accident problems and to investigate technological solutions, especially for measures to mitigate the consequences of severe accidents. The publication contains presentations from the coordinators of 51 projects, as well as presentations from invited lecturers, covering generic issues of reactor safety for present and future LWRs. The report is divided into the following sections: - In-vessel core degradation and coolability; - Ex-vessel corium behaviour and coolability; - Source term; - Containment performance and energetic threats; - Ageing of structural components; - Accident management measures; - Exploring innovative approaches - conceptual reactor safety features; - Results of EU Reactor safety research - Conclusions of FISA'97 and prospects for future RTD.