As the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) accident illustrates, many challenges have to be faced in maintaining safety over the long term in a damaged NPP following a severe accident. These comprise maintaining and monitoring a stabilised and controlled state of the damaged plant;...

Understanding the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is important for safe and timely decommissioning of the reactors. This objective, together with the development of better computer codes for analysis of severe accidents, was the aim of the benchmark study conducted under...

Experimental facilities in nuclear energy are key to addressing safety issues. The recent loss of some critical infrastructure, from facilities to industry expertise, has therefore become a concern for many countries. In response, the NEA has launched several efforts to address the matter as...

The procurement and preparation of fuel for nuclear power reactors, followed by its recovery, processing and management subsequent to reactor discharge, are frequently referred to as the nuclear fuel cycle. The facilities associated with these activities have an extensive and well-documented...

This conference proceedings examines the most recent research and developments related to the impact of debris on emergency coolant recirculation. Held in Albuquerque, New Mexico in February 2004, this proceedings had sessions on safety assessment and regulatory requirements, experimental work,...

New nuclear reactor designs are expected to have a higher level of safety than current designs. As part of the efforts to achieve this, important safety issues related to the new designs need to be identified at an early stage, and research required for problem resolution defined. These...

Following the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, several high-priority actions were initiated by the NEA to address certain technical issues at nuclear power plants. One of these actions was to prepare a status report on spent fuel pools (SFPs) under loss-of-cooling and...

Activities carried out over the last three decades in relation to core-concrete interactions and melt coolability, as well as related containment failure modes, have significantly increased the level of understanding in this area. In a severe accident with little or no cooling of the reactor...

This report from the NEA Working Group on Human and Organisational Performance establishes a common understanding around the terms human performance (HP), organisational performance (OP), and human and organisational factors (HOF) through a simple model. The model presented illustrates the...