Technical Meeting on Design Safety, Safety Assessment and Regulatory Activities to Facilitate Further Development and Future Deployment of Fusion Facilities

The objective of the event is to provide participants with a platform to share experiences from Member States and discuss challenges related to establishing regulatory frameworks, design safety, and safety assessment requirements and recommendations for fusion facilities.

Special emphasis will be placed on discussing the content of the draft Safety Report Series “Safety and Regulation Considerations for Fusion Facilities” (in preparation) and on collecting experiences that could form the basis for consensus among Member States. This consensus will be crucial for the future production of IAEA Safety Standards for fusion, particularly in the areas of regulation, design safety, and safety assessment.

Target Audience

The event is targeted at professionals from design organizations, operating organizations, nuclear regulatory authorities, technical support organizations, and research institutions who are engaged in activities related to or in support of the design, operation, and research and development of fusion facilities. Particular emphasis will be placed on the regulatory and licensing process, design safety, and safety assessment. Specific areas of focus are listed in the Topics section below.

The event is open to representatives from all Member States with an active research program in fusion energy, including those from Member States that have expressed interest in starting to acquire knowledge on fusion research and technologies.

Topics

The event will address experiences collected from Member States to overcome challenges and limitations concerning the regulatory framework, licensing process, design safety, and safety assessment for fusion facilities. Key topics include:

• Use and application of IAEA Safety Standards to fusion facilities at the design and licensing stages in the regulatory decision-making process;
• Phenomena, safety challenges, and initiating events associated with fusion facility operations;
• Challenges concerning material selection;
• Safety functions and safety classification of engineering safety features;
• Considerations for applying the graded approach, defence in depth, and practical elimination concepts to fusion facilities during the design and licensing process;
• Application of design safety principles to fusion facilities to meet the fundamental safety objective;
• Overcoming the lack of information concerning operating procedures and accident management guidelines;
• Deterministic and probabilistic approaches for demonstrating the safety level of the design of fusion facilities;
• Applicable regulatory frameworks;
•Licensing processes for future fusion facilities;
•Regulatory readiness for future fusion facilities.

Key Deadlines

11 April 2025 is the deadline for designations to be sent to IAEA through the official channels. For more information about designation and registration please refer to the Information Sheet.