International Conference on Topical Issues in Nuclear Installation Safety: Strengthening Safety of Evolutionary and Innovative Reactor Designs

» Extended Conference Deadlines →

The conference will be held as an in-person event, with the possibility of remote connection. Further logistical information for attending both in person and also remotely will be added to this web page closer to the start of the event.

Background

The IAEA International Conferences on Topical Issues in Nuclear Installation Safety (TIC) are organized periodically bringing together nuclear safety regulators, plant designers and operators, technical support organizations and other stakeholders from interested Member States, as well as other international organizations to discuss current practices and challenges related to nuclear installation safety. The first in the TIC series was organized in 1998. Subsequent conferences took place in Vienna, Austria (2001, 2013, 2017), Beijing, China (2004) and Mumbai, India (2008). These conferences have contributed significantly to the exchange of information and experiences related to the latest advances in the field of nuclear installation safety. At the same time, the recommendations made at the conferences have provided and guided the IAEA with valuable insights on activities to be undertaken to further to strengthen nuclear safety globally.

The focus of the previous conferences covered the areas from continuous safety improvement and ensuring safety for existing nuclear installations to the issues related to safety demonstration of advanced water cooled nuclear power plants (NPPs).

After the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident, the IAEA focused its efforts on revision of the IAEA Safety Standards to address lessons learned from this accident. The feedback gathered from previous TIC conferences and review missions to the Member States have also contributed to the Agency’s efforts to assess the applications of the IAEA Safety Standards mainly in relation to the safety of existing reactors designs.

In recent years, the Member States’ spotlight has been shifting towards safety of the evolutionary and innovative

[1] reactor designs. The growing interest of Member States for the deployment of these reactors, in particular advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) and next generation nuclear power plants, is notable.

In light of these rapid developments, the robust safety demonstration and suitable regulatory framework are paramount prerequisites for the safe and successful deployment of these advanced reactors and public acceptance. Responding to these dynamic developments in the Member States, the IAEA is currently implementing a wide spectrum of activities related to the safety of evolutionary and innovative reactors. These activities are mainly aimed at the application of IAEA Safety Standards for evolutionary and innovative reactors, providing platform to discuss safety related challenges and experiences as well as on potential safety interfaces with security and safeguards considerations in the context of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs.

During the recent IAEA General Conferences, the Member States have requested the IAEA to promote and support the implementation of the IAEA Safety Standards and strengthen them by addressing scientific and technological innovations.

Member States have also reiterated their request to the IAEA to continue organizing meetings and activities on the safety and related technology aspects of evolutionary and innovative reactors — stressing the importance of ensuring the highest standards of safety and performance.

The TIC2022 Conference is organised to respond to these emerging trends and needs. Specifically, the conference is designed to comprehensively address the issues related to the safety of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs, and thus foster harmonization of safety approaches in this area and further enhance regulatory frameworks to cope with these challenges. In addition, specific emphasis is laid on the practices and challenges of utilizing the holistic approach to safety, security, and safeguards in the design of evolutionary and innovative reactors.

[1] Evolutionary and innovative reactor designs as defined by the IAEA:

• Evolutionary design: is an advanced design that achieves improvements over existing designs through small to moderate modifications, with a strong emphasis on maintaining proven design elements to minimize technological risks
• Innovative design: is an advanced design which incorporates conceptual changes in design approaches or system configuration in comparison with existing practice

More information on evolutionary and innovative designs are found in the IAEA's Advanced Reactors Information System (ARIS), a web-accessible database.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of the Conference is to foster the exchange of information on wide-ranging aspects, capturing the progress and challenges in safety and licensing of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs.

The Conference aims to generate an increased understanding of the safety approaches and practices used in evolutionary and innovative reactor design and their licensing strategies. Specifically, the Conference is focused on the safe use of the evolutionary and innovative technologies in relation to fuel, plant systems and components, materials and design concepts (e.g. covering both water cooled and non-water cooled reactors, including SMRs and microreactors).There is an increasing interest in achieving harmonization of design related safety standards and a more consistent approach to licensing. It is thus expected that the Conference could be of interest to organizations such as regulatory bodies, utilities, research organisations, and vendors by facilitating international collaboration and exchange of experiences.

The Conference will also provide the IAEA with valuable insights for its activities related to the safety of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs. In particular, the feedback from the Conference is important in directing the IAEA work on the applicability of the IAEA Safety Standards to these reactors, and facilitating the IAEA support to Member States by focusing capacity building activities, strengthening advisory and peer-review services, and further enhancing international cooperation in this area.

Themes and Topics

The main theme of the Conference is the safety of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs, which implies covering the wide range of related topics, from applicability of current safety approaches to these reactors, their design safety and safety assessment issues as well as utilization of advanced modelling tools and experiments.

The proposed papers and discussions during the Conference are expected to be related to the following topics:

Topic 1. Applying safety approaches and standards for evolutionary and innovative reactor technologies

• Regulatory experiences in licensing or preparation for licensing of innovative reactor technologies
• New regulatory approaches for licensing of innovative reactor technologies (regulations, new safety approaches, revision of current frame)

• Application of current safety standards and regulations to the design assessment of innovative technologies (good practices, experiences, identified gaps and non-applicability)

• International cooperation: harmonisation of safety standards and guidance for innovative reactor technologies and sharing of regulatory reviews
• Holistic approach to safety, security and safeguards for innovative reactor technologies (safety-security-safeguards organizational interfaces and related challenges)
• Fusion power plant design safety requirements and licensing.
• Capacity building on safety of innovative reactors

Topic 2. Enhancing safety by innovative design features

• Safety by design: defence in depth implementation in innovative reactors.
• Advanced nuclear fuels: design, operation, qualification and back-end conditioning for recycling or disposal.
• Design safety challenges for non-water cooled reactors (e.g., containment, coolant, fuel, chemistry, radiation protection)
• Innovative structural materials
• Safety-security-safeguards by design
• Codes and standards for non LWRs
• Inherent safety features of reactor cores
• Passive safety design options.
• Advanced instrumentation and controls and human-machine interfaces.
• Application of general design requirements: safety classification, design/protection for internal and external hazards, etc.

Topic 3. Supporting integrated decision making through safety/risk analyses

• Trends in deterministic safety analysis for evolutionary and innovative reactor designs (determination of PIEs, acceptance criteria, approaches, internal and external hazards)
• Trends in probabilistic safety assessment for evolutionary and innovative reactor designs (multi-unit/multi-module risk, risk-informed applications, risk communication, internal and external hazards)
• Integration of deterministic and probabilistic approaches for decision making
• Analysis of design extension conditions and demonstration of margins to cliff-edge effects
• Analysis of conditions to be practically eliminated
• Analytical support of accident management of innovative reactors
• Safety demonstration utilizing operational experiences
• Integrated risk-informed decision making (deterministic/probabilistic considerations, organisational aspects, security interfaces, cost benefit analysis and economic factors)

Topic 4. Accelerating innovations for safety assessment through the advanced simulation and modelling, and experimental programmes

• Application of advanced modelling techniques for assessing safety performance of the evolutionary and innovative reactors
• Development of advanced multi-scale , multi-physics methods applicable to safety analysis of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs
• Experimental facilities and programmes to support demonstration of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs (safety, instrumentation, ….)
• Use of innovative solutions in advanced modelling and simulation (artificial intelligence, big data processing, robotics, machine learning,….)
• Developments of nuclear power plant simulators and part task simulators demonstrating safety features of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs
• Innovations in and lessons learned from trainings (especially virtual) on advanced simulation and modelling tools

Target Audience

Participation in the Conference is solicited from nuclear safety professionals from regulatory bodies, designers, operating organizations, technical support and research organizations as well as consultants who are engaged in activities related to the safety of evolutionary and innovative reactor designs. The Conference foresees the participation of the invited speakers to provide keynote presentations and/or take part in the panel discussions.

Exhibitions

A limited amount of space will be available for commercial vendors’ displays/exhibits during the conference. Interested parties should contact the Scientific Secretariat by email by 31 January 2022 31 August 2022 23 September 2022.

Key Deadlines and Dates

• 1 September 2021: Opening of synopsis submission through IAEA-INDICO
• 31 January 2022 14 February 2022: Submission of abstracts through IAEA-INDICO
• 31 January 2022 14 February 2022: Deadline for submission of the Participation Form (Form A) and if applicable Form for Submission of a Paper (Form B) and the Grant Application Form (Form C), using the InTouch+ Platform
• 28 March 2022: Notification of acceptance of abstracts for oral or poster presentation
• 27 May 202210 June 2022 19 June 2022: Electronic submission of full papers through IAEA-INDICO
• 29 July 2022 13 July 2022: Notification of review of full papers
• 23 August 2022: Deadline for submission of revised full papers submitted through IAEA-INDICO
• No deadline: Registration only (no paper submission, no grant request) using Form A through the InTouch+ Platform
• 18-21 October 2022: Conference dates

Greening

To demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, the IAEA will organize this conference as a 'green meeting' according to the guidelines of the Austrian Ecolabel.

There will be a focus on the areas of paper smart documentation, waste reduction and recycling, and environmentally friendly catering.

Conference app

The IAEA Conferences and Meetings App provides a one-stop access to information on the Conference, exhibitions and scheduled side events. The app also allows users to put together their own personalized schedule of events. Via this app participants will be able to view contributed papers and the latest conference programme, message other participants, and view PowerPoint presentations released after the event. Participants will receive an email inviting them to register for the app approximately one week before the conference.

For iPhone or iPad users, get your free download through the App Store; those with Android devices can visit the Google Play Store.