[en] One of the elements essential for any organization to become a leading organization is to learn from its own and others experience. The importance of utilizing experience feedback for enhancing operational safety is highlighted in nuclear industry again and again which resulted in launching several forums nationally and internationally. In addition, IAEA action plan on nuclear safety issued after Fukushima accident further highlighted the importance of experience sharing among nuclear community to strengthen global nuclear safety regime. PNRA utilizes operating experience feedback gathered through different sources in order to improve its regulatory processes. During the review of licensing submissions, special emphasis is given to utilize the lessons learnt from experience feedback relating to nuclear industry within and outside the country. This emphasis has gradually resulted in various safety improvements at research reactors in Pakistan. Accordingly, PNRA has developed a systematic process for evaluation of international operating experience feedback with the aim to create safety conscious approach. This process includes collecting information from different international forums such as IAEA, regulatory bodies of other countries and useful feedback of past accidents followed by its screening, evaluation and suggesting recommendations both for PNRA and its licensees. As a result of this process, several improvements concerning regulatory inspection plans of PNRA as well as in regulatory decision making and operational practices of licensees have been highlighted. This paper will present PNRA process for evaluation of national and international operating experience feedback for research reactors. (author)

[en] This summary provides a view on safety and operational aspects, as addressed in the summaries of coolant characteristics (see Section 3 of this TECDOC), coolant confining structures (see Section 4 of this TECDOC) and interfaces (see Section 5 of this TECDOC), because they are key cornerstones for licensing of a nuclear facility. Growing international nuclear safety requirements for operation and additional considerations for anticipated events demand more sophisticated approaches for nuclear safety demonstration. This section is divided into two blocks: – Inventory control, accountancy and qualification procedures; – Enveloping safety analysis.

[en] As the global community strives to curb carbon emissions from the energy sector, focus has sharpened on the role nuclear energy can play in the effort throughout the 21. century. While the light water reactor fleet provides the nuclear generation backbone for meeting future capacity needs and emission goals, more than half of the world's nuclear power plants have surpassed 30 years in service. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in collaboration with research entities around the world, helps turn the world's carbon neutrality challenges into opportunities. EPRI's work delivers research to answer key questions about modernization efforts that can provide safe and cost-effective life extensions for long-term operation, increase operational flexibility to support stable power grid dynamics, reduce nuclear power plant operating costs, and the examine the latest reactor technologies for more viable new nuclear power plant construction. (authors)

No abstract available

[en] The in-service inspection program of the Angra 1 plant is updated every 10 years, according to applicable standards - designer (American Westinghouse project based on NRC requirements) and CNEN. NRC approves the use of ASME Section XI (In-service Inspection of Nuclear Power Plant Components). To provide this assurance for those components that are subject to the requirements of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code presents as requirements a set of rules has been formulated to provide assurance that the functional requirements of the components are available when required. The rules have been arranged to provide appropriate levels of assurance according to the importance of the component in its relationship to plant safety. The classifications that are established during design and manufacturing have been adopted to provide the levels of importance for the components. Nuclear power plants (NPP) have operation license for 40 years. Angra 1 operation license will complete 40 years in 2024. But, according to international standard an NPP can renewal the license for more 20 years. Brazilian standard does not have requirements for license renewal. So, CNEN had prepared two technical notes for License Renewal and Long-term operation for NPP in Brazil - CNEN NTCGRC-007/18 and NT-CGRC-008/18. Angra 1 had already started the Renewal License and Long-term Operation project and ISI program will need to be on the Aging Management Program form, that require more robust trend analyzes, corrective and preventive actions and others attributes. The main purpose of this article is to show the ASME section XI subsections that are important for the License Renewal and Long-term Operation for Angra 1. (author)

[en] This document is the construction permit application file for the installation of a 11.8 MW ground photovoltaic power plant on a 18 hectares land of the municipality of Guiscriff (Morbihan, Brittany, France). The document includes: the project owner file (presentation of the site, comprehensive impact study, answers to the remarks made by the Environmental authority), the administrative file (public inquiry and the opinions of the different commissions, civil aviation and environmental authority), the observations expressed by the public during the public inquiry, the report and conclusions of the inquiry commissioner (report, conclusion and opinion of the inquiry commissioner, answers by the project owner to the remarks expressed by the public, hydrogeologic report). The study 'photovoltaic conversion and biodiversity' is added in appendix

[en] The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is responsible for regulating the use of nuclear energy and materials. The CNSC permits nuclear power utilities to operate nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Canada under a power reactor operating licence (PROL). A PROL specifies applicable standards for operation. Canadian nuclear power utilities are licensed in accordance with applicable standards in their PROL. The CNSC’s licensing regime includes the licence conditions handbook (LCH), which is a companion piece to interpret a licence. The general purpose of the LCH is, for each licence condition, to clarify the regulatory requirements and other relevant parts of the licensing basis. The LCH requires the licensee to ensure that the instrumentation and control (I&C) system is designed to satisfy requirements of the plant level system classification, ensure that system safety features for enhancing system reliability and integrity are identified and implemented in the design, and ensure that the system is not vulnerable to common cause failure (CCF). In particular, the LCH references CSA standard N290.14-07, Qualification of Pre-Developed Software for Use in Safety-Related Instrumentation and Control Applications in Nuclear Power Plants, for justification in using digital predevelopment software. This is the standard used by licensed utilities in Canada to qualify commercial grade software for use in safety related applications. This standard was written by the CSA Group through a consensus standards development process approved by the Standards Council of Canada. This process brings together volunteers representing varied viewpoints and interests to achieve alignment and balance between stakeholders. N290.14-15, Qualification of Digital Hardware and Software for Use in Instrumentation and Control Applications for Nuclear Power Plants, is the second edition of the standard, which has been or will be considered for adoption by licensees (when those utilities apply for re-licensing). This second edition has been greatly expanded, to include hardware qualification requirements and an expanded scope of software. This standard also references several other publications, including, but not limited to those by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It was developed by the Canadian Standards Association (operating as ‘CSA Group’) and provides an interlinked set of requirements for the management of nuclear facilities and activities.

[en] Advanced reactors have promise as the future of United States nuclear energy infrastructure. However, licensing these reactors presents many new questions for the nuclear community, particularly around developing a 'technology-neutral' framework capable of handling a staggering amount of diversity in technologies and operating models. Congress's enactment of the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) in early 2019 enables the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to devote substantial resources to developing such a framework. Congress draws a distinction between the existing licensing framework that is focused on light water reactors (LWRs) and the technology-neutral framework that it directs the NRC to establish. However, to aid in the eventual development of a 'technology-neutral' reactor licensing framework, it is important to conceptually understand the history and context of the current licensing framework for commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs). To that end, this study analyses whether the existing licensing framework was ever intended to be fully applicable to advanced reactors. The study reveals that, while the existing framework did not ignore advanced reactors and is capable of accomplishing the review and licensing of such reactors, the current NRC regulatory framework ultimately was designed primarily for licensing traditional LWRs. This conclusion is reached through a review of regulatory history documents and policy statements of the time and illustrates how the existing framework was not specifically intended to provide a technology-neutral framework. Thus, significant gains may be possible by learning from past experience when exploring a new licensing framework that more substantially addresses technology-neutral licensing concepts

[en] Dealing with the climate crisis requires tackling three challenges regarding the production, integration and efficient use of energy, addressed in the three chapters of this dissertation. First, energy efficiency is widely recognised as an effective means to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, as well as a cost-efficient solution towards the decarbonisation of the economy. However, impact evaluations of existing energy efficiency policies are rare. Second, vast amounts of renewable energy are needed in order to replace fossil fuels in the energy mix. As renewable energies are being expanded, concerns about social acceptance of renewables become more pressing, especially for technologies like onshore wind power. On the other hand, policies intended to increase social acceptance may harm the expansion of renewable energy. Third, renewable energy needs to be integrated into the current energy systems using flexibility options such as demand response. However, a set of barriers needs to be overcome in power markets, in order to move from an inelastic demand side to flexible loads. Chapter 1 evaluates the impact of energy efficiency networks, an instrument designed to boost energy efficiency in industry. In energy efficiency networks, groups of firms exchange experiences on energy conservation in regular meetings over several years. The companies implement energy efficiency measures in order to reach commonly agreed energy savings and CO${}_2$ reduction goals. Energy efficiency networks exist in several countries, such as Germany, Sweden and China. Existing evaluations of such voluntary regional networks in Germany claim that participants improved energy efficiency at twice the speed of the industry average. Based on comprehensive data from the German manufacturing census, chapter 1 examines whether participation in energy efficiency networks has a causal impact on energy conservation and CO${}_2$ emissions. I demonstrate that for the average participant there is no statistically significant effect on energy productivity or CO${}_2$ emissions due to the network activities. While a small network effect may exist, power calculations show that this effect would be smaller than predicted by the previous literature. However, there is some indication that exporters may have benefitted from the networks by reducing their CO${}_2$ emissions. Chapter 2 shows that strict minimum distances have detrimental consequences for onshore wind power. The chapter evaluates the causal effect of the introduction of minimum distance regulation in Bavaria on construction permits for wind turbines. In order to increase public acceptance of wind power, several countries and regions have introduced mandatory minimum distances of wind turbines to nearby residential areas. Germany’s largest federal state Bavaria introduced such separation distances of ten times the height of new wind turbines in 2014. We construct a novel monthly district-level dataset of construction permits for wind turbines constructed in Germany between 2010 and 2018. We use this dataset to evaluate the causal effect of introducing the Bavarian minimum distance regulation on the issuance of construction permits for wind turbines. We find that permits decreased by up to 90 percent. This decrease is in the same order of magnitude as the reduction of land area available for wind turbines. The results are in line with findings indicating that minimum distances do not increase the public acceptance of wind power, but harm the expansion of onshore wind power. Alternative policies are better suited to facilitate acceptance without hampering the expansion of wind power. Chapter 3 analyses the role of aggregators – intermediaries between consumers and energy markets – in facilitating industrial demand response. Based on the results from semi-structured interviews with German demand response aggregators, as well as a wider stakeholder online survey, we examine the role of aggregators in overcoming a set of barriers to industrial demand response. We find that central roles for aggregators are to raise awareness for the potentials of demand response, as well as to support implementation by engaging key actors in industrial companies. Demand response aggregators thus drive organisational change. Moreover, we develop a taxonomy that helps analyse how the different functional roles of aggregators create economic value. We find that there is considerable heterogeneity in the kind of services that aggregators offer, many of which do create significant economic value. However, some of the current aggregator roles may become obsolete once market barriers to demand response are reduced or knowledge on demand response becomes more diffused.

[en] Small modular reactors are one interesting option for new builds in almost all countries worldwide continuing to use nuclear energy for commercial electricity production. In this contribution first definitions, history and current developments of SMRs are presented. Subsequently, selected trends of SMR development such as factory fabrication and transport, compactness and modularity, core design, improved core cooling and exclusion of accidents, features for preventing and limiting the impact of severe acci-dents are described. Further topics to be touched are the economic viability and competitiveness, licensing and the position of selected European countries concerning new builds. Last modellings gaps of the GRS simulation chain applied in nuclear licensing procedures are identified and a strategy for closure is developed.