France-Japan Workshop on Nuclear Research and Development Cooperation was held

France-Japan Workshop on Nuclear Research and Development Cooperation was organized in Paris on February 15 by JAEA Paris Office for the purpose of deepening the cooperation with relevant organizations and of expanding the human network with nuclear community in Paris.

Total number of the participants was 59. From the French side Le Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire (IRSN) and other relevant organizations including nuclear industry participated while from the Japanese side in addition to the JAEA, Embassy of Japan in France and the Japanese nuclear industry stationed in France, etc. also attended. Furthermore, we had also participants from OECD/NEA located in Paris.

As opening remarks, Mr. Kodama, President of JAEA, stated that France and Japan had shared the long history of cooperation as advanced nuclear countries; this workshop was positioned as a part of larger efforts to address the challenges facing the two countries; two relevant issues, namely, decommissioning and nuclear safety research, were adopted as the focus of the discussion of the Workshop in consultation with partner organizations; it was expected that the cooperative relation would be strengthened in these areas. Mr. Verwaerde, General Administrator of CEA, thanked JAEA for hosting the workshop in Paris, and mentioned that decommissioning and nuclear safety research were important issues for both France and Japan, especially, with regard to decommissioning, further cooperation was expected as both countries had the same type of facilities in the decommissioning phase such as Phénix and Monju. Mr. Pinel, Director for International Affairs of IRSN, identified the middle-and long-term issues of safety research in the post Fukushima (accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant) context, such as the evaluation methodology of safety margins and modelling technology of the progression of severe accidents and stressed the importance of expanding France-Japan cooperation for solving these issues. Mr. Magwood, Director General of OECD/NEA, indicated the importance of multilateral cooperation in the R&D such as the development of the Generation IV reactors, and expressed his expectation of further contribution of France and Japan to NEA in the fields of decommissioning and safety research. Mr. Horiuchi, Minister, Embassy of Japan in France, mentioned the importance of bilateral cooperation in the fields of decommissioning and safety research.

As the keynote speech, Mr. Pivet, Deputy Director of Nuclear Energy Development of CEA, mentioned the CEA’s organization, mission, current situation of research cooperation with JAEA, development of technologies for supporting nuclear industry in France (such as the technologies for the Generation III reactors, fuel cycle, etc.), outline of the ASTRID project, research facilities (Jules Horowitz research reactor, PLINIUS-2, an experiment facility for severe accident assessment, etc.). Ms. Watanabe, Executive Director of JAEA, briefly explained the JAEA’s mission, organization, recent trends in each field, R&D budget, directions of future R&D, current situation of cooperation with relevant French research institutes, etc. Then, she expressed the intention to strengthen ties with international nuclear community, and especially, expand and deepen the cooperation with France for solving numerous challenges in the situation surrounding the use of nuclear energy in Japan.

Subsequently, technical sessions were held on two themes: decommissioning and safety research. First, in the decommissioning session, Mr. Meguro, General Manager, Decommissioning Research and Development Office of JAEA, presented the current situation of decommissioning at JAEA, which included the mid- and long-term facility plan; situation concerning decommissioning of Fugen, Monju and Tokai Reprocessing Plant; and situation of technology development relating to decommissioning. Ms. Piketty, Deputy Director, Nuclear Cleanup and Dismantling Division of CEA, presented the current situation of decommissioning at CEA, which included efforts for decommissioning made at each research site, and R&D for dismantling the facilities (contamination assessment of facilities, instrument to dismantle facilities in a high-dosed environment, virtual reality system, etc.). Ms. Georges, Head of the Department of Projects of Dismantling, reviewed the cooperation between CEA and JAEA in this area. She mentioned the possibility of additional bilateral cooperation and the SHARE initiative, multilateral initiative considered within the framework of the EU.

In the following question and answer session, technical discussion was held on issues such as the one on how to technically achieve the very demanding clearance level of Japan, while policy and societal issues such as the lack of the joint international efforts in the organizational and financial aspect for the decommissioning despite the existence of obvious needs among states for such type of cooperation were raised. Also, importance of sharing experience and challenges of respective countries were recognized. A participant expressed the view that, with regard to decommissioning, if the dismantled pieces were not to be reused, the needs of new R&D on dismantling were small, and as the focus was put on the management of dismantling process taking into consideration the characteristics of individual facilities the involvement of R&D institutes was not necessarily required, and accordingly, for implementing more efficient decommissioning, it was realistic to establish the special institution/corporation dedicated to the decommissioning and foster a group of experts. Through this technical session, importance of project management in the process of decommissioning, management of waste generated from dismantling, etc. was shared. Also, it was confirmed that discussion would be continuously made on how to proceed with the R&D cooperation on the occasions such as information exchange meeting between CEA and JAEA.

Secondly, in the safety research session, Mr. Yonomoto, Deputy Director, Nuclear Safety Research Center of JAEA, presented the role of the Nuclear Safety Research Center as a technical support organization (TSO) for the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), the new role which the Center has become expected to assume after the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, outline of R&D activities and international cooperation implemented by respective groups of the Center, etc. Mr. Rouyer, Safety Research Director, Nuclear Safety Division of IRSN, presented the outline of IRSN’s activities related to safety research, which included its mission, strategy, research facilities located at the Saclay and Cadarache research centers, major projects having started after the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and international cooperation. Mr. Guniji, Senior Scientist of JAEA assigned to IRSN on a long-term basis, reported good examples of cooperation between the IRSN and the JAEA. The report included the current situation and the future plan of the criticality safety-related cooperation using STACY (Static Experiment Critical Facility) which aimed at the contribution to the analysis of fuel debris of Fukushima (Princess Project).

In the following question and answer session, importance of the research cooperation on the conventional topics such as the fuel safety etc. as well as the recognition on the opportunities of new research cooperation concerning fire safety etc. that was planned to start was shared. Importance to establish the human network by long-term assignment of researchers to the other party was recognized. Also, understanding was shared that the safety research workshop held last November jointly by IRSN, NRA and JAEA was meaningful in fostering young researchers as well as in getting input from the young generation.

In the end, Ms. Watanabe, Executive Director of JAEA, gave closing remarks. She expressed appreciation for the participation and cooperation of the partner institutions (CEA and IRSN) in this workshop, and summarized the discussion at the technical sessions. She mentioned that the activity, like this workshop, which aimed to expand and deepen the cooperation between France and Japan, would be continued.

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