Scientific and technical evaluation of completed R & D projects in the area of nuclear energy

Directorate-General For Research And Innovation European Commission

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• Publié par: DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-RESEARCH-AND-INNOVATION-EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 25
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

European Commission
Community Research
Project report
Nuclear Science and Technology
Scientific and technical evaluation
of completed R&D projects in the area
of nuclear energy
EURATOM EUR 18923 EN EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Edith CRESSON, Member of the Commission
responsible for research, innovation, education, training and youth
DG XII/D.II.3 — R & Τ programme 'Nuclear fission safety 1994-98'
Contact: Mr G. A. Cottone
Address: European Commission, rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200 (MO 75 5/43),
B-1049 Brussels — Tel. [phone]; fax [phone] European Commission
Scientific and technical evaluation
of completed R&D projects in the area
of nuclear energy
ERI Consulting & Co
CH-6343 Rotkreuz
PEGO bvba
B-2400 Mol
Risk Management Consultants
OX14 1RA
Abingdon
United Kingdom
STEAG Kernenergie GmbH
D-45128 Essen
Softec
1-40141 Bologna
TÜV Energy Consult
D-80686 Munich
Directorate-General
Science, Research and Development
1999 EUR 18923 EN LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission
is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information.
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It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1999
ISBN 92-828-7311-0
© European Communities, 1999
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Luxembourg
PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE FREE PAPER Summary
On behalf of the European Commission, an appraisal and scientific and technical evaluation
have been performed of research projects carried out within the framework of the Nuclear
Fission Safety programme (1990-1994). A number of 82 projects completed in the years
1995-1996 were evaluated by experts from six different organisations during the year 1998.
Each of the organisations covered one of the following research areas :
1. Reactor safety
2. Radioactive waste management
3. Geological Storage of radioactive waste
4. Decommissioning and remote handling of nuclear facilities
5. Radiationbiology and epidemiology
6. Radioecology, radiodosimetry, evaluation of radiation hazards
The issues addressed included :
- The contractor's motivations for being involved in the project,
- The effectiveness of their co-operation and their relationships and interactions, both
amongst themselves and with the Commission,
- The projects' scientific and technological results,
- The subsequent activities in disseminating and exploiting these results,
- The projects' wider economic and social impacts
The experts undertook face-to-face interviews with the contractual project-co-ordinators. To
provide a framework for the interviews, the experts were provided with a standardised
questionnaire based on a number of performance indicators. The experts were also provided
with copies of project reports and other outputs and were given access to the EC project
officers in charge.
The information gathered was then used to identify and understand the project "success
factors" and main achievements, as well as any weaknesses and areas where projects had
been less successful. The insights, finally, are being used by the Commission as it prepares its
future RTD programme. In this report are presented the individual reports drawn-up by the
experts on the six research areas mentioned above.
Although this analysis of the Nuclear Fission Safety programme (1990-1994) has been
limited to a sample of the projects supported, the overall results can clearly be seen as
positive. The projects were generally well managed with effective internal relationships and
constructive interactions with the Commission. The transeuropean involvement of a wide
variety of organisations was useful in terms of exchanging experience, sharing knowledge
and building contacts and networks.
Considering the research oriented, often basic generic research, precompetitive nature of the
programme, the projects' achievements in terms of commercialisation and exploitation are
however commendable. The research, which also has non-nuclear environmental application,
has contributed significantly to place Europe at the forefront of developing and maintaining a
high standard in nuclear fission safety aspects.
in GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY III
1. REACTOR SAFETY 1
2. RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT 23
3. GEOLOGICAL STORAGE OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE 51
4. DECOMMISSIONING AND REMOTE HANDLING OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES 7
5. RADIATION BIOLOGY AND EPIDEMIOLOGY 107
6. RADIOECOLOGY, RADIODOSIMETRY AND EVALUATION OF RADIOACTIVE HAZARDS 13 5
APPENDIX 1. QUESTIONNAIRE USED FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL POST- 15 7
VALORISATION OF COMPLETED PROJECTS IN THE AREA OF
NUCLEAR ENERGY TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 1 : REACTOR SAFETY
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background 2
1.2 Evaluation Process
CHAPTER 2 AIM/MOTIVATION FOR INVOLVEMENT
CHAPTER 3 EFFICIENCY OF COOPERATION 6
3.1 Partnership Profile
3.2 Efficiency of Project Management
3.3 Budgeting, Manpower and Time-Scales
CHAPTER 4 ROLE OF THE COMMISSION
CHAPTER 5 SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENTS 9
5.1 Scientific Objectives 9
5.2 Partner's Contribution
5.3 Main Results
5.4 Publications 12
5.5 Training of Researchers3
5.6 Dissemination
5.7 Innovativeness of Research
5.8 Further A ctivities4
CHAPTER 6 EXPLOITATION6
CHAPTER 7 ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS 17
CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSIONS 18
CHAPTER 9 RECOMMENDATIONS9
9.1 Coordination
9.2 Role of the CEC
9.3 Key Factors for Success and Exploitation
9.4 Research and Publications 20
9.5 EC Share
9.6 Dissemination of Results and Related Topics1
9.7 Other Recommendations
vi SECTION 2 : RADIOACTTVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
1 INTRODUCTION 24
/./ Aims and objectives
1.2 Profile of the different projects evaluated5
1.3 Evaluation mechanism adopted7
AIM AND MOTIVATION FOR INVOLVEMENT 28
EFFECTIVENESS OF COOPERATION9
3.1 The partnership profile 2
3.2 Efficiency of Project Management 3 0
3.3Budgetting, Manpower and Time scales1
ROLE OF THE COMMISSION4
SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENTS 35
5.7 Scientific objectives 3
5.2 outcome and innovativeness6
EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS7
6.1 Results
6.2 Publications8
6.3 Exploitation of results
7 ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS 40
7.1 Overall impact of the evaluated projects on radioactive waste management 4
7.2 Economic and social impact 41
7.3 General impact including environmental aspects2
7.4 Spin-off to non-nuclear technology4
7.5 Global context and return5
8 CONCLUSIONS 47
RECOMMENDATIONS9
VII SECTION 3 : GEOLOGICAL STORAGE OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE
ACRONYMS OF TERMS OR ORGANISATIONS 52
1. INTRODUCTION 53
2. AIM AND MOTIVATION FOR INVOLVEMENT5
3. EFFECTIVENESS AND COOPERATION6
3.1 The Partnership Profile
3.2 Efficiency of Project Management 57
3.3 Budgeting, Manpower and Timescales9
4. ROLE OF THE COMMISSION 61
5. SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENTS2
6. EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS6
7. ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS 68
8. CONCLUSIONS 69
9. RECOMMENDATIONS 71
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