Project description
Envisioning the future of nuclear materials
Nuclear power will play a key role in the energy transition. Materials are key for safety, efficiency and economy of nuclear energy. Hence the importance of funding research on nuclear materials through stable and highly cooperative instruments, as in a European Joint Programme, or Co-funded European Partnership (CEP) in HEU. The EU-funded ORIENT-NM project will set the basis for launching a CEP on nuclear materials. The project will produce a convincing strategic research agenda for materials for all nuclear reactor generations and develop an efficient CEP governance and legal structure, as well as implementation scheme. Finally, it will identify appropriate ways of interaction with other bodies and initiatives connected with nuclear materials, in close dialogue with Member States, the European Commission and stakeholders.
Objective
ORIENT-NM answers the Euratom WP 2019-20 call NFRP-08, which requests to explore the possibility of establishing a European Joint Programme (EJP) on nuclear materials. Accordingly, ORIENT-NM will:
1. Produce a convincing strategic research agenda (SRA) for materials for all nuclear fission reactor generations (until 2040), consistent with national programmes and industrial needs, including supply chain constraints, paying attention to standardisation issues and verifying the availability of suitable infrastructures;
2. Elaborate an efficient EJP governance and legal structure, including attention for decision-making processes, intellectual property issues, promotion of innovation and analysis of potentially available resources, as well as an implementation scheme caring among others for quality assurance, SRA updating, knowledge and data management; all this considering different possible scenarios;
3. To identify appropriate ways of interactions between the EJP and other bodies and initiatives that bear connections with nuclear materials (stake-holders), including international organisations, standardisation bodies, technical safety organisations, fusion and non-nuclear energy communities, other associations, while addressing the issue of a coordinated use of nuclear materials infrastructures.
All of the above will be done in close dialogue with Member States and European Commission, as well as all other stake-holders, in order to meet their requirements and expectations from an EJP on nuclear materials and raise the interest of identified research owners and research managers, by demonstrating the added value of such EJP.
The key outcomes will be:
A. Critical assessment of the added value of an EJP on nuclear materials;
B. Vision Paper and SRA;
C. Possible EJP structure, governance, legal aspects and implementation;
D. Set of protocols for the interaction of the EJP with other stake-holders.
Documents listed under A, C and D will complement and integrate the SRA.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- H2020-Euratom - Euratom Main Programme
- H2020-Euratom-1. - Indirect actions
Funding Scheme
CSA - Coordination and support actionCoordinator
28040 MADRID
Spain