ELSMOR – towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors: Methodology recommendations for light-water small modular reactors safety assessment

Sylvain Lansou; Luca Ammirabile; Nikolai Bakouta; Jeremy Bittan; Sebastian Buchholz; Jean Yves Brandelet; Etienne Courtin; Frans Davelaar; Stanislav Dombrovsky; Jean Baptiste Droin; Sophie Ehster-Vignoud; Houda Hamama; Atte Helminen; Thorsten Hollands; Andriy Iskra; Sebastien Israel; Stefano Lorenzi; Liviusz Lovasz; Valerie Paulus; Isabelle Pichancourt; Joachim Miss; Thuy Nguyen; Antti Rantakaulio; Federico Rocchi; Juan Carlos de-la-Rosa-Blul; Marco Ricotti; Armin Seubert; Oleksandr Sevbo; Stanislav Sholomitsky; Olli Suurnäkki; Marton Szogradi; Ville Tulkki; Andreas Wielenberg

doi:10.12688/openreseurope.16360.2

ELSMOR – towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors: Methodology recommendations for light-water small modular reactors safety assessment

Sylvain Lansou^*, Luca Ammirabile, Nikolai Bakouta, Jeremy Bittan, Sebastian Buchholz, Jean Yves Brandelet, Etienne Courtin, Frans Davelaar, Stanislav Dombrovsky, Jean Baptiste Droin, Sophie Ehster-Vignoud, Houda Hamama, Atte Helminen, Thorsten Hollands, Andriy Iskra, Sebastien Israel, Stefano Lorenzi, Liviusz Lovasz, Valerie Paulus, Isabelle PichancourtJoachim Miss, Thuy Nguyen, Antti Rantakaulio, Federico Rocchi, Juan Carlos de-la-Rosa-Blul, Marco Ricotti, Armin Seubert, Oleksandr Sevbo, Stanislav Sholomitsky, Olli Suurnäkki, Marton Szogradi, Ville Tulkki, Andreas Wielenberg

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Other journal contribution › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Decarbonization of energy production is key in today’s societies and nuclear energy holds an essential place in this prospect. Besides heavy-duty electricity production, other industrial and communal needs could be served by integrating novel nuclear energy production systems, among which are low-power nuclear devices, like small modular reactors (SMRs). The ELSMOR (towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors) European project addresses this topic as an answer to the Horizon 2020 Euratom NFRP-2018-3 call. The consortium includes 15 partners from eight European countries, involving research institutes, major European nuclear companies and technical support organizations. The 3.5-year project, launched in September 2019, investigates selected safety features of light-water (LW) SMRs with focus on licensing aspects. Providing a comprehensive compliance framework that regulators can adopt and operate, the licensing process of such SMRs could be optimized, helping their deployment. In this prospect, as a result of ELSMOR’s work, this article gives an overview of the specific issues that LW-SMRs may bring about in the different domains of nuclear safety, in terms of: Methodological standpoints: safety goals, safety requirements, safety principles (defence-in-depth implementation); Main safety functions of reactivity control, decay heat removal and confinement management; Severe accident management; Other safety issues particular to SMRs: use of shared systems; performing of multi-unit probabilistic safety assessment (PSA); spent fuel management, transport and disposal management. In this article, adequate methodologies are developed to deal with these issues and to help assess the safety of LW-SMRs. This work gives a precious synthesis of the safety assessment issues of LW-SMRs and of the associated methodologies developed in the context of the ELSMOR European project.

Original language	English
Article number	158
Number of pages	29
Journal	Open Research Europe
Volume	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.16360.2
Publication status	Published - 14 Oct 2024
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

Confinement management
Decay Heat Removal
Probabilistic Safety Assessment
Reactivity Control
Safety
Severe Accident
Small Modular Reactor

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.12688/openreseurope.16360.2

Cite this

Lansou, S., Ammirabile, L., Bakouta, N., Bittan, J., Buchholz, S., Brandelet, J. Y., Courtin, E., Davelaar, F., Dombrovsky, S., Droin, J. B., Ehster-Vignoud, S., Hamama, H., Helminen, A., Hollands, T., Iskra, A., Israel, S., Lorenzi, S., Lovasz, L., Paulus, V., ... Wielenberg, A. (2024). ELSMOR – towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors: Methodology recommendations for light-water small modular reactors safety assessment. Open Research Europe, 3, Article 158. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.16360.2

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title = "ELSMOR – towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors: Methodology recommendations for light-water small modular reactors safety assessment",

abstract = "Decarbonization of energy production is key in today{\textquoteright}s societies and nuclear energy holds an essential place in this prospect. Besides heavy-duty electricity production, other industrial and communal needs could be served by integrating novel nuclear energy production systems, among which are low-power nuclear devices, like small modular reactors (SMRs). The ELSMOR (towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors) European project addresses this topic as an answer to the Horizon 2020 Euratom NFRP-2018-3 call. The consortium includes 15 partners from eight European countries, involving research institutes, major European nuclear companies and technical support organizations. The 3.5-year project, launched in September 2019, investigates selected safety features of light-water (LW) SMRs with focus on licensing aspects. Providing a comprehensive compliance framework that regulators can adopt and operate, the licensing process of such SMRs could be optimized, helping their deployment. In this prospect, as a result of ELSMOR{\textquoteright}s work, this article gives an overview of the specific issues that LW-SMRs may bring about in the different domains of nuclear safety, in terms of: Methodological standpoints: safety goals, safety requirements, safety principles (defence-in-depth implementation); Main safety functions of reactivity control, decay heat removal and confinement management; Severe accident management; Other safety issues particular to SMRs: use of shared systems; performing of multi-unit probabilistic safety assessment (PSA); spent fuel management, transport and disposal management. In this article, adequate methodologies are developed to deal with these issues and to help assess the safety of LW-SMRs. This work gives a precious synthesis of the safety assessment issues of LW-SMRs and of the associated methodologies developed in the context of the ELSMOR European project.",

keywords = "Confinement management, Decay Heat Removal, Probabilistic Safety Assessment, Reactivity Control, Safety, Severe Accident, Small Modular Reactor",

author = "Sylvain Lansou and Luca Ammirabile and Nikolai Bakouta and Jeremy Bittan and Sebastian Buchholz and Brandelet, {Jean Yves} and Etienne Courtin and Frans Davelaar and Stanislav Dombrovsky and Droin, {Jean Baptiste} and Sophie Ehster-Vignoud and Houda Hamama and Atte Helminen and Thorsten Hollands and Andriy Iskra and Sebastien Israel and Stefano Lorenzi and Liviusz Lovasz and Valerie Paulus and Isabelle Pichancourt and Joachim Miss and Thuy Nguyen and Antti Rantakaulio and Federico Rocchi and de-la-Rosa-Blul, {Juan Carlos} and Marco Ricotti and Armin Seubert and Oleksandr Sevbo and Stanislav Sholomitsky and Olli Suurn{\"a}kki and Marton Szogradi and Ville Tulkki and Andreas Wielenberg",

note = "Open Letter - not article, so B1 even peer-reviewed.",

year = "2024",

month = oct,

day = "14",

doi = "10.12688/openreseurope.16360.2",

language = "English",

volume = "3",

journal = "Open Research Europe",

issn = "2732-5121",

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Lansou, S, Ammirabile, L, Bakouta, N, Bittan, J, Buchholz, S, Brandelet, JY, Courtin, E, Davelaar, F, Dombrovsky, S, Droin, JB, Ehster-Vignoud, S, Hamama, H, Helminen, A, Hollands, T, Iskra, A, Israel, S, Lorenzi, S, Lovasz, L, Paulus, V, Pichancourt, I, Miss, J, Nguyen, T, Rantakaulio, A, Rocchi, F, de-la-Rosa-Blul, JC, Ricotti, M, Seubert, A, Sevbo, O, Sholomitsky, S, Suurnäkki, O, Szogradi, M, Tulkki, V & Wielenberg, A 2024, 'ELSMOR – towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors: Methodology recommendations for light-water small modular reactors safety assessment', Open Research Europe, vol. 3, 158. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.16360.2

TY - JOUR

T1 - ELSMOR – towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors: Methodology recommendations for light-water small modular reactors safety assessment

AU - Lansou, Sylvain

AU - Ammirabile, Luca

AU - Bakouta, Nikolai

AU - Bittan, Jeremy

AU - Buchholz, Sebastian

AU - Brandelet, Jean Yves

AU - Courtin, Etienne

AU - Davelaar, Frans

AU - Dombrovsky, Stanislav

AU - Droin, Jean Baptiste

AU - Ehster-Vignoud, Sophie

AU - Hamama, Houda

AU - Helminen, Atte

AU - Hollands, Thorsten

AU - Iskra, Andriy

AU - Israel, Sebastien

AU - Lorenzi, Stefano

AU - Lovasz, Liviusz

AU - Paulus, Valerie

AU - Pichancourt, Isabelle

AU - Miss, Joachim

AU - Nguyen, Thuy

AU - Rantakaulio, Antti

AU - Rocchi, Federico

AU - de-la-Rosa-Blul, Juan Carlos

AU - Ricotti, Marco

AU - Seubert, Armin

AU - Sevbo, Oleksandr

AU - Sholomitsky, Stanislav

AU - Suurnäkki, Olli

AU - Szogradi, Marton

AU - Tulkki, Ville

AU - Wielenberg, Andreas

N1 - Open Letter - not article, so B1 even peer-reviewed.

PY - 2024/10/14

Y1 - 2024/10/14

N2 - Decarbonization of energy production is key in today’s societies and nuclear energy holds an essential place in this prospect. Besides heavy-duty electricity production, other industrial and communal needs could be served by integrating novel nuclear energy production systems, among which are low-power nuclear devices, like small modular reactors (SMRs). The ELSMOR (towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors) European project addresses this topic as an answer to the Horizon 2020 Euratom NFRP-2018-3 call. The consortium includes 15 partners from eight European countries, involving research institutes, major European nuclear companies and technical support organizations. The 3.5-year project, launched in September 2019, investigates selected safety features of light-water (LW) SMRs with focus on licensing aspects. Providing a comprehensive compliance framework that regulators can adopt and operate, the licensing process of such SMRs could be optimized, helping their deployment. In this prospect, as a result of ELSMOR’s work, this article gives an overview of the specific issues that LW-SMRs may bring about in the different domains of nuclear safety, in terms of: Methodological standpoints: safety goals, safety requirements, safety principles (defence-in-depth implementation); Main safety functions of reactivity control, decay heat removal and confinement management; Severe accident management; Other safety issues particular to SMRs: use of shared systems; performing of multi-unit probabilistic safety assessment (PSA); spent fuel management, transport and disposal management. In this article, adequate methodologies are developed to deal with these issues and to help assess the safety of LW-SMRs. This work gives a precious synthesis of the safety assessment issues of LW-SMRs and of the associated methodologies developed in the context of the ELSMOR European project.

AB - Decarbonization of energy production is key in today’s societies and nuclear energy holds an essential place in this prospect. Besides heavy-duty electricity production, other industrial and communal needs could be served by integrating novel nuclear energy production systems, among which are low-power nuclear devices, like small modular reactors (SMRs). The ELSMOR (towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors) European project addresses this topic as an answer to the Horizon 2020 Euratom NFRP-2018-3 call. The consortium includes 15 partners from eight European countries, involving research institutes, major European nuclear companies and technical support organizations. The 3.5-year project, launched in September 2019, investigates selected safety features of light-water (LW) SMRs with focus on licensing aspects. Providing a comprehensive compliance framework that regulators can adopt and operate, the licensing process of such SMRs could be optimized, helping their deployment. In this prospect, as a result of ELSMOR’s work, this article gives an overview of the specific issues that LW-SMRs may bring about in the different domains of nuclear safety, in terms of: Methodological standpoints: safety goals, safety requirements, safety principles (defence-in-depth implementation); Main safety functions of reactivity control, decay heat removal and confinement management; Severe accident management; Other safety issues particular to SMRs: use of shared systems; performing of multi-unit probabilistic safety assessment (PSA); spent fuel management, transport and disposal management. In this article, adequate methodologies are developed to deal with these issues and to help assess the safety of LW-SMRs. This work gives a precious synthesis of the safety assessment issues of LW-SMRs and of the associated methodologies developed in the context of the ELSMOR European project.

KW - Confinement management

KW - Decay Heat Removal

KW - Probabilistic Safety Assessment

KW - Reactivity Control

KW - Safety

KW - Severe Accident

KW - Small Modular Reactor

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85207340704&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.12688/openreseurope.16360.2

DO - 10.12688/openreseurope.16360.2

M3 - Other journal contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85207340704

SN - 2732-5121

VL - 3

JO - Open Research Europe

JF - Open Research Europe

M1 - 158

ER -

ELSMOR – towards European Licensing of Small Modular Reactors: Methodology recommendations for light-water small modular reactors safety assessment

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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