Ex-post evaluation of safety research by technology interaction analysis

By using the database INSPEC (Information Services for Physics, Electronics and Computing), an ex-post evaluation of the safety research was carried out by using a technology interaction analysis. Selected prestigious nuclear institutions were JAERI (Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Japan), ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, The U.S.) and FZK (Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany). As the control term of INSPEC the water-reactor-safety was used to study the established key technologies and the interacted technological elements. (1) For a nuclear safety research in Japan, 30 out of 274 key technologies were examined and revealed that JAERI held priority to 22 key technologies, consisted of the nuclear fuels, the nuclear materials, the thermal hydraulics, the accidents and the research reactors. Hence, JAERI contributed much to Japan. As to ORNL, they held priority to 19 key technologies, represented by the nuclear power plant (NPP) operation and maintenance/inspection. They were however inferior to the key technology such as thermal hydraulics. As to FZK, they held priority to 20 key technologies, represented by a radiation protection. (2) For selected 20 key technologies, a half of them were held in common by the three institutions. They were the NPP (including engineering calculation etc.), the nuclear fuels, the nuclear materials, and the accidents (including a reactor core cooling and heat removal). Those technologies were unavoidable for the stable and the sustainable usage of NPP. (3) Among the three nations, 13 technological elements consisted of the NPP (including reactor theory and design etc.), the nuclear fuels, the nuclear materials, and the accidents (including a reactor core cooling and heat removal) were held in common Regarding the items of key technologies there is no difference between the level of nation and that of institution. (4) Key technologies held in common at domestic and institutional level were, 11 for JAERI, 5 for ORNL and 7 for FZK. The prominent technologies developed by each institute were judged by CPI analysis; they were 4 (reactor accident, reactor design, reactor core cooling, and two phase flow) for JAERI, 4 (core control and surveillance, fission products, reactor material and instruments, and research reactors) for ORNL and 2 (fuel cladding and radiation protection) for FZK, respectively. (5) JAERI and FZK interacted strongly with the accident, the engineering calculation, the fuel cladding and the reactor core cooling. One of reason of that was an international cooperation through LOFT. FZK held priority to JAERI in term of the fuel cladding. As for JAERI and ORNL, they interacted strongly at the instruments and the research reactors. (author)