Aspects of nuclear reactor safety

The Colloquium on 'Irradiation Tests for Reactor Safety Programmes' has been organised by JRC Petten in order to determine the present state of technology in the field. The role of research and test reactors for studies of structural material and fuel elements under transient and off-normal conditions was to be explained. The Colloquium has been attended by 110 participants from outside and inside Europe. 27 papers were presented covering the major ongoing projects in Japan, the United States, and in Europe, and elaborating in particular: - design rationale and layout of safety irradiation experiments; - design, manufacture, and performance of irradiation equipment with particular attention to generation and control of transient conditions, fast response in-pile instrumentation and its out-of-pile data retrieval; - post-irradiation evaluation; - results and analytical support