Energy Safety Group took part in International Summer School on Early-deployable SMRs in the framework of ELSMOR project

The Energy Safety Group remains involved and keeps track on the main trend in the nuclear industry in recent years – the topic of small modular reactors. The company became a participant of the International Summer School on Early-deployable Small Modular Reactors 2022, which was held from July 5 to 8 in Italy. At the event, the company was represented by the lead of probabilistic analysis division of ES Group, Mykhailo Polianskyi.

The event took place at the University of Politecnico di Milano in the framework of the ELSMOR project, with sponsor support by Euratom. The Summer School is one of the stages of the project and is aimed at training of the participants in the holistic assessment of small modular reactor (SMR) projects. The training included lectures, seminars, and participation in the working groups to familiarize with the SMR project, perform calculations of the passive cooling system efficiency, and develop algorithms for constructing experimental installations. As part of the training program, the participants visited the experimental research center of SIET S.p.A, where there is an experimental stand for studying the effectiveness of the SMR passive cooling system. The attendees of the School inlcuded PhD students, young specialists and researchers from Italy, Germany, France, Egypt, Sudan, Lithuania, Ukraine, Albania, Canada, Argentina and Portugal.

According to the ELSMOR project’s leader, Ville Tulka, the goal of the project is “to investigate the improved safety performance of light water SMRs and develop a set of fundamental technical specifications against which regulatory authorities can verify the compliance of SMRs with Directive 2009/71/Euratom. The studies should also propose a methodology for performing tests, including experimental validation of the main elements of the proposed safety demonstration models, as well as their impact on the SMR licensing process in various related applications. Safety considerations for refueling, spent fuel management and SMR decommissioning should also be given due consideration, especially for SMR concepts that can be deployed in the short term.”

The ELSMOR project promotes understanding and technology solutions for light water SMRs in several areas:

• Acquisition, analysis and dissemination of information on the potential and problems of SMR among various stakeholders, including the public, decision makers and regulators;
• Development of improved methods for assessing the safety of light water SMRs;
• Improvement of the European experimental and research infrastructure to support the safety assessment of future SMRs;
• Improvement of European nuclear safety analysis codes to demonstrate the ability to assess the safety of light water SMRs.

The ELSMOR project builds on the experience of the consortium of technical support organizations, research centers, industrial partners and universities with extensive experience in nuclear safety analysis and the introduction of innovative nuclear technologies in Europe. The consortium was represented by participants from France: EdF, TechnicAtome, Framatome, IRSN, CEA; Germany: GRS; Finland: VTT, Fortum; Ukraine: Energorisk LLC; EU: JRC-Petten; Italy: CIRTEN-POLIMI, SIET, ENEA; Lithuania: LEI and Switzerland: PSI.

The lectures were delivered by: ELSMOR Project Manager, Head of SMR Technologies at VTT Technical Research Center of Finland – Ville Tulki; President of the European Platform SNETP – Bernard Salha (EDF, France); Technical Lead for SMR Technology Development, Nuclear Energy Department – Hadid Subki (IAEA); Vice President for Development of New Nuclear Power Plants of Ontario Power Generation – Gary Rose (Canada); ELSMOR Project Leader and representative of the SIET experimental research center – Roberta Ferri (Italy); representative of the GRS Safety Research Department – Sebastian Buchholz (Germany); Licensing Officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, member of the SMR Regulators Forum – Sean Belia (CNSC); Chief Engineer of the CAREM project – Dario Delmastro (CNEA, Argentina), teachers of the host Milan Polytechnic Institute (POLIMI) – Professor Marco Ricotti and Professor Stefano Lorenzi and others.

Reference:

The ELSMOR project “Towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors” began in September 2019. The planned duration is 3.5 years. The ELSMOR project is funded by Euratom under the Research and Training Program 2014-2018 under Grant Agreement No. 847553. The ELSMOR project consortium consists of 15 members, representing 8 countries.

Websites:

ELSMOR www.elsmor.eu

International Summer School on Early-deployable Small Modular Reactors 2022 http://www.nuclearenergy.polimi.it/elsmor2022ss/