IYNC 2002 Y-Note Session Result
A3: Politics of Nuclear
A6: Knowledge Transfer
A7: Nuclear as a Part of the Energy Mix
B3: Power Plant Operations and Maintenance
B4: Safety and Reliability
B6: Thermohydraulics
C1: Medical Applications
D1: Decommissioning, Waste Characterization & Immobilization
D2: Natural Systems and Environmental Impacts
D4: Regulatory and Institutional Issues
Track A: Social and Policy Issues
Session Chair: Anna-Maria Lyytinen, Finland
Keynote Speaker: Mr. Sami Tulonen, Head of Unit, Nuclear Generation, Foratom
The session started with a presentation by the keynote speaker Mr. Sami Tulonen from Foratom. As a head of unit in the European nuclear industry association Foratom he has been coordinating the lobbying efforts regarding the enlargement of the European Union.
The session continued with a presentation by Alexandru Havris from Societatea Nationale "Nuclearelectrica" S.A., Romania, giving an overview of the Romanian nuclear industry and the upcoming commissioning of the new units in Cernavoda NPP.
Eugene B. Kogan introduced some tendencies and prospects of the U.S. framework regarding nuclear nonproliferation. Both during the presentation and in the Y-notes session it was stressed that multilateral cooperation and preventive diplomacy is the key to promote and encourage better nuclear security and peaceful use of nuclear.
Dr. Philipp Hanggi, the president of YG Switzerland, told about the PR-campaign that was launched to win a nuclear phase-out moratorium in 2003. The campaign was very specific in a sense that it had to defend then present situation against an initiative of a nuclear phase-out. Interesting notion of the successful campaign was also that it created a strong sense of pride and unity within the people working in the nuclear field.
In the Y-note session it was discussed that talking openly about one's work in a nuclear industry poses some problems for the most. Conservative values, strict company policies, general suspicion and fear of too radical opinions harming one's cause tend to push professional people into silence rather than open discussion and argumentation for the benefits of nuclear power and other peaceful nuclear applications. Not addressing the subject seems to be the safer choice but it also leaves the public discourse open for mistakes, false accusations and wrong ideas.
Mr. Mohammed Saud Khan, a student from National University of Sciences and Technology in Rawalpindi, Pakistan explained the background of Kashmir crises between India and Pakistan and the geo-political context of the nuclearization of Pakistan.
The Y-note session was held on a beautiful sunny day so the attendance was quite poor
Session Chair: Kiza Francis, Secretary IYNC 2004, CNSC, Canada
Keynote Speaker: Mr Laurence G. Williams, Chief Inspector, Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), United Kingdom
The session opened with a presentation by the keynote speaker, Mr. Laurence Williams from NII that generated a discussion on the issue of knowledge transfer with relation to maintaining the safety of the Nuclear Industry. Mr. Williams also suggested at the end of his presentation that IYNC 2006 should consider a session that looks at "Safety in the role of the regulator."
This presentation and discussion was followed by four speakers that represented four different areas of the industry:
Duncan Robinson of Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC in the USA gave a presentation that outlined the Westinghouse - Penn State University collaboration on a Nuclear Engineering Senior Design Course. This cooperation has evolved to provide Westinghouse with excellent opportunities to hone their teaching skills and employee development while providing the students with some industry knowledge before they graduate.
Professor Bum-Jin Chung from Cheju National University in Korea then provided a brief overview of current international studies that have been conducted on the growing concerns of nuclear manpower shortages. Professor Bum-Jin Chung expanded on how many of these studies don't seem to be addressing the problem, merely outlining the problem without providing solutions.
Laura Beth Bienhoff, a student of Kansas State Universirty, representing the American Nuclear Society (ANS), presented the current initiatives of the DOE and their investment in university and nuclear engineering outreach programs. As an intern with the ANS, Laura Beth studied the effect that the DOE funding has had on nuclear engineering university enrollment and concluded that since the DOE has made an investment in funding, enrollment has in fact increased in these programs.
Amy Moore, an intern at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) provided the audience with information on the CNSC development program for the recruitment of young engineers and scientists. The CNSC actively recruits 6-8 new graduates every year for an 18-24 month internship program where they experience working in various line division within the organization. The interns are also provided with technical and non-technical training courses. This program has allowed the CNSC to train young engineers and scientists to become effective nuclear regulators.
After the presentations, the audience was invited to ask the presenters some questions. The discussion that followed was carried over into the Y-Notes session later that evening. The general feeling that came out of the session was that the youth that are in the industry all recognize that knowledge transfer is an issue in the nuclear industry that needs to be addressed. There seems to be many studies that are being completed on this topic, and it is a popular discussion area, however, there doesn't seem to be a lot of action.
At the Y-notes session, one idea was brought forward concerning the high-level IAEA conferences that are held. Most participants felt that the senior officials at most organizations were the only ones that were given the opportunity to attend these conferences. The idea was put forward that at conferences put on by the IAEA on knowledge management, as well as other topics, countries should be encouraged to provide participants in both the older and younger generation.
The Y-notes session closed with participants discussing different initiatives that are currently in place in their country and/or organization. Although there is a wide-spread issue of knowledge management in the nuclear industry around the world, most participants were able to provide examples that their organization is doing to combat this problem. This was a positive way to end the session.
There was no Y-note session after the presentations due to several misunderstandings. The comments following are just the notes of the session chair.
Session Chair: Philipp Hanggi, President Young Generation Network Switzerland
Keynote Speaker: David Bonser, Executive, Spent Fuel Services, BNFL, United Kingdom
The Nuclear Future - whose responsibility is it anyway?
David Bonser
The session opened with a presentation by the keynote speaker, Mr. David Bonser about his personal view on how nuclear energy has to play a role in sustainable development of the world. Beyond others, following subjects were addressed:
- 2 bn people have no electricity
- rising energy demand
- CO2
- Nuclear as large scale and wind as small scale producers
Some key messages were
- This is a global problem that needs do be solved. Go and solve it. Our industry
is part of the solution
- Go and talk to the old guys, and do not take no for an answer.
Pollution-Free Hydrogen from Nuclear Power
Alistair Miller
Alistair Miller gave a very thorough overview over all current options to
produce energy and their effect to the environment. Hydrogen was introduced
as an energy currency. Some of his key conclusions were:
- CO2: Not the amount of the CO2 emissions is the problem but the delta
between emissions and absorptions.
- Conservation of energy won't do the job.
- Go for hydrogen.
Nuclear Energy as a Sustainable Energy Source
Hannah Yount
Hannah showed the results of the survey she made on the most important energy
sources. She compared waste production, land use, emissions released, economics,
safety, and the availability of resources. Thereafter she determined which
are a sustainable source of energy based on these comparisons.
Track B: Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Session I
Session Chair: Kristina Kristofova, DECOM, Slovakia
Session II
Session Chair: Patrick Reid, Cameco, Canada
Session III
Session Chair: Stewart Lynas, United Kingdom
1) Biser Petrov (Bulgaria) has a MSc in Nuclear Engineering and a MBA in Strategic Management. He works as a research associate at the institute for Nuclear research and Nuclear Energy in Sofia. Biser spoke about the research being done on Reactor Dosimetry in RPV Lifetime Management. Of the 6 units (VVER 1000MW and 440MW) two have been shutdown for political reasons and those that remain have between 2 and 33 cycles expected remaining. The issue of Pressure vessel lifetime is being analysed, particularly the aspect of embrittlement
2) Daniel Urjan (Romania) has BSc in Nuclear Engineering and MSc in Nuclear Safety. He is an authorized reactor operator (in training) at Cernavoda NPP Unit 1 in Romania and has been there almost 5 years. Daniel spoke about the effect of a recent summer heatwave that reduced the water level of the Danube by the Cernavoda NPP Unit 1 from 7m to around 3m, and ensuring an adequate heat sink. This required Unit 1 to be shut down, which was significant, as there were loss of electricity supplies to both domestic and overseas customers. Questions from the audience led us to learn that the 'claimed' alternative cooling systems between this plant and a similar one in Canada were different and so lessons learned were indeed truly international
3) Jocelyn Martin (Canada) who recently graduated with a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and is employed with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in Ottawa. Jocelyn spoke about Steam Generator Degradation in Canadian Nuclear Generating Stations This include instances of manually induced problems.
This session, which lasted around 1-hour, was well received by those attending. The audience varied from between 16 and 25 people. Despite the fourth presenter not arriving, the session benefited from presenters representing research, operations and regulation. That afternoon there was a Y-notes session. It was decided to hold the Y-notes for all the days' sessions together. Around 20 people attended in a session chaired by Tony Hechanova were able to discuss many of the issues raised and draw some generic conclusions from their own, and other, sessions.
Session I
Session Chair: Hyun Gook Kang, KAERI, Korea
Keynote Speaker: Miroslav Lipar, IAEA
In the session of Safety and Reliability I, there were one invited lecture and four technical presentations.
The invited speaker, Mr. M. Lipar from IAEA, extensively covered the IAEA safety standard and their applications with practical examples. He emphasized that the IAEA safety standards are the global reference for nuclear, radiation protection, radioactive waste and transport safety, and they provide a rigorous review process and comprehensive approach to nuclear safety.
V. Caxaj from AECL presented the Regional Overpower Protection system in CANDU reactors. The ROP systems provide protection against onset of intermittent dryout in any fuel channel. He also explained the design target of ROP and its safety requirements.
I. Vukovic from Univ. of Zagreb, Croatia presented the development of event tree sequences for postulated initiating event. It was a good introduction to the event tree analysis and initiating event identification. He reviewed the overall process for the safety assessment of a nuclear power plant, and showed an example for the initiating event of 'transient without main feedwater system'.
E. Holliday from Nuclear Safety Solutions Ltd. presented about the best estimate and uncertainty analysis methodology, which is a probabilistic approach to nuclear safety analysis using Monte Carlo methods. She emphasized the usefulness of this methodology for reducing over-conservatism in safety assessment.
M. Kristof from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Slovakia also made a presentation about best estimate methodologies. His presentation was from the perspective of a regulatory body, covering conventional licensing methods and future trends. The status and outcome of best estimate and uncertainty analysis methodology project were explained with real examples.
Session II
Session Chair: Han Seong Son, South Korea
Keynote Speaker: Jae Joo Ha, South Korea
At this session, the attendees discussed the "Reliability and Safety" issues that cover from probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) to reliable and safe operation of nuclear power plants (NPP). Dr. Jae Joo Ha was invited as the keynote speaker. His talk on PSA Quality was very insightful, and provided participants with many PSA perspectives and information on PSA research fields. Particularly, the remaining research issues that he provided were sufficient to encourage the young participants and make them think that nuclear science and engineering is interesting.
Presenters included Peter Schwanke (AECL, Canada), Hyun-Gook Kang (KAERI, South Korea), and Prohor V. Povarov (Volgodonsk NPP, Russia). Peter demonstrated the robustness of the reactor regulation system (RRS) by various simulation results. In other words, RRS is proved to be very effective for safe operation of nuclear power plants even in a failure situation. He pointed out the following observations:
- Passive response: Isolating valve closure causes H2O in the drain lines
outside the core to siphon back in.
- In the absence of SDS, siphoning plus setback at 0.2%FP/s provides adequate
margin to dryout
- Event not classified a "serious process failure"
Hyun-Gook introduced the concept of coupled failure of vital areas in nuclear plants. He solved the problem that if an area of NPP is destroyed, how much change in the failure probabilities of the other areas is expected in view of PSA. He proposed the location minimal cut set (LMCS) importance measure based on the grouping approach. The calculation results could be utilized in the protection design for NPP and/or other nuclear facilities. Finally, Prohor showed us emergency control tools of Volgodonsk NPP in Russia. His presentation brought forth the expectation that modern information technology can be actively applied for the reliable, safe, and secure operation of NPP.
A general conclusion might come from the session as follows: we professionals in the nuclear field are trying to do our best to improve the reliability and safety of NPP in various ways. This say nuclear industry still needs more passionate young professionals to keep nuclear safety. And thus we can say there remain a lot of works to do and lots of research issues waiting for young generations and future generations. It is the duty of the young professionals to seek out various supports to initiate and maintain involvement in this field. IYNC can certainly be a great opportunity such that the young professionals can get their support from various resources. Furthermore it may give us an opportunity that industry leaders can find out the young professionals who actively go for the bright future of nuclear industry.
Session Chair: Boris Sucic, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Croatia
In this session four papers were accepted for oral presentation. Finally only
three presentations were held because of the fact that Mr. Kapustin and Mr.
Dremin, authors of the forth paper, RELAP5 Analysis of PSB - VVER Natural
Circulation Experiment with Various Primary Inventories, were unable to
attend on the Congress.
Mr. Dan Quach from the Nuclear Safety Solution Ltd., Canada, presented paper
named CANDU Heat Transport System Aging: Effects of Pressure Tube Diametral
Creep on Thermalhydraulic Parameters. Mr. Quach stated that from theoretical
point of view his paper describes findings from various studies that have been
carried out on the effect of Pressure Tube diametral creep as it affects thermalhydraulic
parameters, fuel cooling behavior and channel pressure drop characteristics.
Mr. Ilya Gashenko who works as researcher in the Computational Thermalhydraulic
Department at the Electrogorsk Research and Engineering Center, Russia, presented
paper named The Problems of Reproduction of the Loss-of-Coolant Accidents
of VVER-1000 Reactor on the ISB - VVER Integral Test Facility.
Mr. Alexey Rovnov who works as researcher in the Laboratory of VVER-1000
Thermalhydraulic at the Electrogorsk Research and Engineering Center, Russia,
presented paper named An Experimental Investigation of 11% LOCA's on PSB-VVER.
After each presentation the audience was invited to ask the presenters some questions. The discussion that followed was carried over into the Y-Notes session which was held immediately after normal presentation session. During the Y-Notes session general issues concerning problems with thermalhydraulic analysis were discussed.
Track C: Non-Power Applications of Nuclear
Session Chair: Ignacio Sebastian Luppi Berlanga, Latin America Liaison IYNC
2004, CNEA, Argentina.
Keynote Speaker: Dr Doug Boreham, Assistant Professor, Mc Master University,
Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences Unit, Canada.
Dr. Boreham opened the session with the presentation: "The Biological
and Health Effects of Low Dose Ionizing Radiation" that described the
biological response and defence mechanisms to the effect of low doses of ionizing
radiation (LDIR) in mice.
The session consisted of four works but unfortunately only one author could
attend the meeting. Ms Vivian Pereyra Molina, from Bolivia, gave the presentation
called: "Holmium-166 Ferric Hydroxide Macroaggregates for Radiation Synovectomy"
that referred to the preparation, quality control and biological test of a radiopharmaceutical
compound labelled with a beta-emitting radioisotope for the treatment of the
Arthritis Rheumatoidea.
A Y-note session was held later in the afternoon and it was pointed out that
nuclear medicine is a quite useful technique not well known, and therefore not
well accepted, by the rest of the medical specialists. As conclusion it was
recommended to implement diffusion campaigns of the benefits of medical, biological
and biochemical nuclear applications.
Track D: Environmental & Waste Management
Session Chair: Sasa Medakovic, Enconet International, Croatia
Keynote speaker: Yury Korovin, Professor, Obninsk State Technical University, Russia
Attendance of the session was quite good (around 30). Within this session one invited lecture was given and three technical papers were presented. Unfortunately, a few authors were unable to fulfill their commitment to attend and present verbally at the Congress.
Prof. Y. Korovin gave the invited lecture on Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems with Accelerator and Fusion Driven Transmutation.
Contributed technical papers were presented by E. Chauvin (Review of the French
Vitrification Program), G. Cordoba Electrochemical Behavior of Uranium in
Molten Salts and P. Pin Self Induced X-ray Fluorescence and Peak/Compton
Comparison: Two Innovative Methods for Bitumenized Waste Drum Characterization.
As a conclusion for this session, it can be said that innovative and new methods for waste characterization and an advanced fuel cycle were presented. From all presentations it was clear that the attendees believe that the fundamental problem in gaining new interest in nuclear science and technology today is not related to safety, environmental protection or radioactive waste, but it is the fact that no one (or almost no one) is building any new nuclear power plants.
Session Chair: Anthony Hechanova, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
Sasa Medakovic, Enconet International, Croatia, opened the session with a presentation
entitled "Determination of Operational Intervention Levels" in which
he described the aspect of emergency preparedness dealing with the calculation
of intervention levels. He explained that there is a process of default values,
field measurement, and revised analysis to determine intervention levels as
an emergency progresses in time.
Young-Eal Lee, Korea Electric Power Research Institute, Korea, gave the second
presentation entitled "Comparison of Radiological and Non-radiological Environmental
Impact of Korean Nuclear Power Generation System" in which she described
a life cycle assessment methodology that provides a relative ranking of environmental
performance for different activities including nuclear power. The method uses
a number of detailed categories for environmental hazards and provides normalization
and weighting to provide an overall environmental impact assessment. Using this
method, for example, the environmental impact from coal was estimated to be
10 times worse than from nuclear.
Sylvain St.-Pierre, World Nuclear Association, France, gave the third presentation
entitled "Radiological Impacts from Nuclear Industrial Facilities on the
Public and the Environment" in which he provided calculation of public dose
from the nuclear fuel cycle and showed this to be much smaller than background
radiation and even smaller annually than the dose from a single transatlantic
flight. He also mentioned the importance of environmental monitoring to continue
to show that the environmental impact from the nuclear fuel cycle is very small
in general, and that studies on radiation effects on plants and animals are
ongoing. Discussion centered around public attitudes and the complexity of the
issues. From this discussion, the general consensus was that what has damaged
the industry are not the reported numbers, but a poor job of communication.
Ursula Alonso, CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain, gave the final presentation entitled "Colloid
Diffusion Studies at the Near/Far Field Interface of a HLWR" in which she
reported on experimental findings of colloid formation in bentonite and their
diffusion in granite, a candidate medium for high level radioactive waste repositories.
A Y-notes session was held later that day. The overarching, unifying theme was that the nuclear community is very concerned about environmental impact and human protection from all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. Studies consistently show that the nuclear industry is among the safest and cleanest for power production. In addition, there are extensive studies going on internationally to better understand the environmental and human impact even though these impacts are expected to be small. Although insignificant impact may be expected, these studies are very important to indicate the breadth of the knowledge and sincere regard of the nuclear community to the concerns of a critical public.
Session Chair: Kiza Francis, Secretary IYNC 2004, CNSC, Canada
Keynote Speaker: Mr. Ken Pereira, Vice President, Operations, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Canada
The session opened with a presentation on 'Avenues to Effective Regulation
of the Nuclear Industry' by the keynote speaker, Mr. Ken Pereira from the
CNSC. Mr. Pereira discussed the components that are required to have an effective
regulatory body. These included an appropriate regulatory framework, an independent
regulator, a regulatory strategy, a good management system, appropriate organization
and resources, good performance management and an outreach program.
After Mr. Pereira's presentation, four speakers provided presentations on different areas of the industry, from nuclear waste management, to regulatory compliance programs as well as nuclear submarine dismantlement while respecting institutional controls.
Anthony Hechanova from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas opened the presentations
with a talk on the IYNC Waste Management Research Program (WMRP) that
he has been leading for the past couple of years. The purpose of the WMRP is
to investigate waste management strategies using an international perspective.
The project currently has contacts in 17 countries and has produced fact sheets
for 13 of those countries. Currently, the project is designing a draft survey
(in which feedback on the survey is requested), as well as trying to establish
more contacts in other countries. The audience was asked to contact the WMRP
if their country was not listed yet.
Ginni Cheema from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) in Canada then provided an overview of how the NWMO has been mandated by the Canadian government to recommend a long-term approach for managing used nuclear fuel created by Canada's major owners of used nuclear fuel. Ginni reviewed the three options that the NWMO is required to study under the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act, after providing the audience with a history of approaches that have been considered in Canada for long-term management of nuclear waste.
Corie Doyle, an Inspector with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, then gave a presentation on the CNSC's new risk-based approach to regulating non-power applications of nuclear energy in Canada. The CNSC has developed this approach to manage the inspection and licensing of non-power applications based on their relative risk to ensure that appropriate resources are spent.
Konstatin Kulikov from Onega R&D Technological Bureau (Severodvinsk, Russia) wrapped up the session by providing a pictorial view of the issues facing Russia as they dismantle aging nuclear submarines. The dismantlement must follow many institutional controls to ensure safety throughout the procedure in order to prevent another sinking incident. The presentation gave the audience a view into a part of the nuclear industry that is not often discussed and many questions were asked after the presentation.
A Y-notes session was not held later that day as all discussion points had been addressed during the session in the afternoon.
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