Nuclear reactor severe accident chemistry and academic research: A panel discussion

Historically, most nuclear reactor severe accident chemical research has been carried out at national laboratories and comparable institutions. Much of that research has involved relatively large scale integral experiments. The applied nature of that research, the scarcity of research funds (especially for basic research), and the lack of chemists aware of the multitude of interesting unresolved problems in severe accident chemistry have all impeded improved basic understanding of severe accident chemical phenomena. The factors hindering progress might be somewhat alleviated if more academic chemists became involved as many significant problems could be investigated on a more basic scale more economically by such chemists. The panel will discuss which fields of severe accident chemistry are most amenable to academic research situations and which of those fields are most important for more realistic severe accident descriptions and improved source term estimates. It will also discuss mechanisms by which academic researchers could be encouraged to become involved in severe accident chemistry research