The IAEA and the European Commission Joint Research Centre´s Institute for Energy (EC/JRC-IE) are expanding their ongoing collaboration. A Practical Arrangement between the two organizations was signed earlier this week to enhance scientific and technical cooperation in nuclear energy planning, nuclear safety and nuclear technology.
According to the agreement, five main areas will be the focus of increased cooperation: infrastructure to introduce nuclear power programmes; life management for long-term nuclear power plant operation (including instrumentation and control systems to support operational excellence); advanced reactor technology development; fuel related technologies and waste management; as well as planning and modelling nuclear energy deployment. Possible forms of cooperation include jointly organizing technical meetings, publishing joint documents and implementing IAEA technical cooperation missions.
"This practical arrangement will be mutually beneficial to both organizations," stated Yury Sokolov, IAEA Deputy Director General for Nuclear Energy. "Following a rich history of collaboration, it is time to expand our cooperative scope, minimising possible duplications and maximizing the synergy effects between our two organizations."
In particular, the IAEA will provide technical competence and share its expertise with two European Commission Network programmes: the Nuclear Plant Life Prediction (NULIFE) programme and the Safety of Eastern European Type Nuclear Facilities (SENUF). In recent years, the EC/JRC-IE and the IAEA collaborated in several areas related to safety standards and assessments, nuclear energy applications, coordinated research programmes and high-level initiatives.
The Practical Arrangement was signed on 27 of October 2009 by IAEA Deputy Director General Yury Sokolov and EC/JRC-IE Director Giovanni De Santi.
Background
EC Joint Research Centre´s Institute for Energy (JRC-IE)
The Institute for Energy (IE) is one of the seven scientific Institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. It provides scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of community policies related to energy. Special emphasis is given to the security of energy supply and to sustainable and safe energy production. The IE is based both in Petten, the Netherlands, and Ispra, Italy, and has a multidisciplinary team of around 300 academic, technical, and support staff.