[en] The main points of investigations are the Fast Breeder Project (PSB), the Nuclear Fusion Project (PKF) and the Nuclear Safety Project (PNS). The contributions to the Fast Breeder Reactor Project comprise theoretical and experimental work on the dynamic behaviour of fast breeder reactors during operational and hypothetical incidents, investigations on consequences of local cooling incidents in the reactor core in consideration of possible damage propagation mechanisms, the detection of such events as well as the performance of risk-oriented analyses. As part of the Nuclear Fusion Project the Institute contributes to the evaluation of plant concepts, to the design and improvement of highly loaded components, to the development of handling techniques as well as to safety investigations. The work for the Project Nuclear Safety of lightwater reactors concern in particular analyses of containment structures under incident conditions, investigations on the fuel rod behaviour during incidents, as well as investigations on two-phase flows. The independent institutional research projects have a fundamental character and are oriented towards application, too. They concentrate on the special fields of applied computer science and continuum mechanics. (orig./GL)