About the Working Groups
Fuel Report | Sustainable Used Fuel Management | Transport | INSAF | Fuel Cycle Members' Forum | CORDEL | Supply Chain | Capacity Optimization | Waste Management & Decomm | Radiological Protection | Law | Economics | Security | Advisory Panel | Communication Group
World Nuclear Association member representatives can view all Working Group reports, documents, presentations and contact lists on the members website.
Fuel Cycle Working Groups
Fuel Report
Co-Chairs: Thomas Cannon (Arizona Public Service Company) and Riaz Rizvi (Kazatomprom)
Staff Director: Olga Skorlyakova
Published since the 1970s, The Nuclear Fuel Report: Global Scenarios for Demand and Supply Availability compiles data from confidential surveys, international agencies and other public sources to produce an authoritative projection of global nuclear fuel supply and demand. Member experts of the Fuel Report Working Group cooperate on the report through six sub-groups. Each focuses on different areas of the fuel cycle and has ownership of different chapters. The next edition will be published in September 2019 and will look at scenarios to 2040.
Demand Sub-Group
Co-Chairs: Carole Marot (EDF) and Brandon Munro (Bannerman Resources)
Agrees on three scenarios (Lower, Reference, Upper) for future nuclear capacity out to a 20-year horizon and the main assumptions (e.g. load factors) affecting future requirements.
Primary Uranium Supply Sub-Group
Chair: Frank Hahne (Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth)
Discusses classification of existing mines, projects under development, and anticipated uranium supply.
Conversion Sub-Group
Chair: Nikko Collida (ConverDyn)
Analyses future conversion supply capacities versus demand in this concentrated segment of the fuel cycle.
Enrichment Sub-Group
Chair: Francisco Tarin (Enusa)
Focuses on key questions affecting this area of the fuel cycle including: supply-demand imbalance, underfeeding, tails re-enrichment, various trade issues.
Secondary Supply Sub-Group
Chair: Rolf Kwasny (Consultant)
Examines key trends and the contributions of various sources of secondary supplies. Information on secondary supplies is woven throughout the report.
Fabrication Sub-Group
Chair: Lawrence Mercier (Framatome)
Discusses this dynamic part of the fuel market, analysing future prospects and the impacts of new developments on the fuel cycle as a whole.
Sustainable Used Fuel Management
Chair: Mikhail Baryshnikov (TENEX)
Deputy Chair: Cecile Evans (Orano) Staff Director: Charlotta Sanders
The mission
of this Group is to shape industry positions with a view to engaging in the
international debate on sustainable management strategies for the back end of
the fuel cycle. The Group also acts as a forum for experts to share good
practices and major developments in used fuel management.
In 2018,
four sub-groups were set up to help better focus activities on areas of importance to industry:
1] Lessons learnt from research reactor management of used fuel
2] Characterization of existing and emerging industrial infrastructures for
used fuel management
3] Identifying innovative processes for managing used fuel and the constraints
to their development
4] A long-term integrated step-wise system approach to used fuel management to
mitigate risks and uncertainties
Joint sessions were also held with the Law and Waste Management &
Decommissioning Groups to address cross-cutting issues
This year, the Group will take part in the programme committee and present
papers at the IAEA Conference
on the Management of Spent Fuel from Nuclear Power Reactors in June. It will continue
to represent industry at international forums including on the Steering
Committee for the IAEA’s Status and Trends in Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste
Management report.
Chair: Russell Neely (Edlow International)
Deputy Chair: Ian Mance (Urenco) Staff Director: Serge Gorlin
This Group
acts as a forum for communicating industry developments, exchanging leading
practice, and for identifying and resolving issues relating to the shipment of
nuclear material. The primary focus of the Group is to address commercial
topics relating to the transport of front-end nuclear materials.
The Group is
represented on the Transport Facilitation Working Group (TFWG), a
multi-stakeholder initiative to preserve and open up new routes for the
transport of radioactive material, and on the IAEA’s Transport Safety Standards
Committee (TRANSSC). It also enjoys reciprocal relations with the World Nuclear
Transport Institute.
In 2018, the
Group worked on several fronts:
1] Worked
intensively with the insurance community to develop a new insurance product to
improve coverage for transport operations with important progress made
2] Produced a paper explaining how low-enriched
uranium is packaged and transported, and how potential liabilities are managed,
aimed at stakeholders in the supply chain
3] It presented to the IAEA Technical Meeting (TM) on Security of
Nuclear and other Radioactive Material in Transport (July), where it
successfully made the case for a more regional approach to transport security regulations
to reduce operational constraints during trans-border shipments.
4] Developed and piloted communication tools aimed at promoting understanding
of movement of radioactive materials
5] Supported the TFWG in organizing a meeting on
Denial of Shipments at the IAEA General Conference (September) hosted by
Brazil.
In 2019, the
Group will progress its work on insurance, communications and on supporting the
TFWG. It will present at the PATRAM conference in August on the work undertaken
to develop a communications strategy.
The International Network for Safety Assurance of Fuel Cycle Industries or INSAF transferred to become a World Nuclear Association Working Group in 2018. The mission of the Group is to exchange safety-related information in order to maintain and develop safety at nuclear fuel cycle facilities. It also encompasses informing the wider nuclear industry about safety relating to fuel cycle facilities, providing assurance to stakeholders, and input in the development of global nuclear safety standards. Areas of focus for INSAF are: safety regulation; safety design; safety control; training; accident/event Information; support systems between members in the event of an accident; public acceptance.
Fuel Cycle Members' Forum
Chair: Tim McGraw (Cameco Corporation) Staff Director: Koji Kakehashi
The Fuel Cycle Members' Forum focuses on developments in nuclear fuel and trade, typically attracting 80-90 people to its meetings. Sessions consist of reports from Working Groups in the fuel cycle area as well as formal presentations and panel discussions. Participants at the forum are annually surveyed to support Agenda-building at future meetings.
Plant Performance Working Groups
Cooperation in Reactor Design Evaluation and Licensing (CORDEL)
Chair: Zhou Fang (SNERDI)
Deputy Chairs: Hae
Ryong Hwang (KEPCO E&C), Donald Hoffman (Excel Services) and Franck Lignini (Framatome)
Staff Directors: Byung-Chan Na, Alexieï Ozeretzkovsky and Mohammad Rababah
CORDEL’s mission is to promote a worldwide nuclear regulatory environment where internationally accepted standardized reactor designs can be widely deployed without major design changes at the national level. In practice, this would mean that generic design certification and safety evaluations approved by a recognized competent authority would be acceptable in other countries.
CORDEL acts as industry’s voice in the areas of
reactor design standardization with the Multinational Design Evaluation
Programme (MDEP), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), European Nuclear Installations Safety Standards Initiative (ENISS), European Utility Requirements for LWR Power Plants (EUR), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the Standards Development Organization Convergence Board.
2018
was a year of renewal for CORDEL as a new Chair and Deputy Chair were elected,
and two new staff members joined the secretariat. A new Strategic Plan for
CORDEL (2019-2023), focusing on both new-build and long-term operation aspects
of nuclear power plants, was worked on by the Group, while a five-year
extension to the Memorandum of Understanding with ENISS and EUR was agreed and
signed. A highlight was the holding of the third regional workshop organized in
cooperation with the Long Term Operation Task Force in Shanghai, China in May
2018 hosted by SNERDI.
The key achievements of the various CORDEL Task Forces in 2018, as well as planned tasks, are described below:
Mechnical Codes and Standards Task Force
Chair: Nawal Prinja (Wood)
Deputy Chair: Frédéric Beaud (EDF)
The Task
Force launched its benchmark on non-linear analysis methods, seven sets of
submitted results are being analysed, and a workshop on this topic will be
organized in mid-2019. The Task Force also made progress on comparison of code
requirements for fatigue analysis. Reports related to this work are expected to
be published in 2019. During 2018, the work of MDEP Codes and Standards Working
Group (CSWG) was transferred to the Working Group on Codes and Standards
Working Group (CSWG) under the Committee of Nuclear Regulatory Activities
(CNRA) of the OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). The Task Force intends to
maintain close cooperation with the CNRA/CSWG.The Task Force provided inputs to the common workshop of MDEP and
NEA/CNRA on codes and standards in April 2018.
Design Change Management Task Force
Chair: Jinxing Yan (SNERDI)
The
Group focused in 2018 on revising its scope and work programme following its
hosting with WANO in December 2017 in London of an IAEA Technical Meeting on
Roles, Responsibilities and Interface between Design Authority, Responsible
Designers and Technical Support Organizations. From 2019, it will contribute to
facilitating the sharing of design change information on common nuclear power
plant designs among different utilities, owners groups, and international
organizations, and maintain a dialogue with WANO and the IAEA on the
responsibilities of operators on how they manage their fleets and cooperate
internationally to maintain a high degree of standardization.
Licensing and Permitting Task Force
Co-Chairs: Vanessa Jakovich (Freshfields); Claude Mayoral (Framatome)
The Task Force has worked on the concept of a reference plant which could be more easily licensed in a given country by taking advantage of an acceptance of the reference plant design by a competent safety authority. The review of this concept continues a with a view to finalization in 2019. The Task Force continues to benchmark leading practices regarding licensing and promotes innovation leading to more efficient licensing processes.
IAEA Nuclear Safety Standards Task Force
Chair: Frank Lignini (Framatome)
Deputy Chair: Robert Vesecky (CEZ,a.s.)
This Task
Force actively contributes to the IAEA Nuclear Safety Standards Committee
(NUSSC), providing consolidated industry inputs and feedback. In 2018, the
focus was on the design of nuclear installations in relations to external
events including earthquakes. The Task Force maintains close cooperation with
ENISS and EUR to avoid duplication.
Digital Instrumentation & Control Task Force
Chair: Johannes Pickelmann (Framatome)
Deputy Chair: Alan Poole (Wood)
The Task Force published a report “Defence-in-Depth
and Diversity: Challenges Related to I&C Architecture” in April 2018
investigating the differences between
authorities in different countries in defining key terms. The Group will
continue to work on defence-in-depth and diversity aspects and I&C
modernization with a workshop on the latter topic being organized in
cooperation with partners in 2019. The Group will maintain its efforts to
increase the visibility of its work within relevant SDOs and international
organizations (IEEE, NEA CNRA, etc), and continue to interact with IAEA in the
development of relevant TECDOCs.
Small Modular Reactors Task Force
Chair: Tom Bergman (NUScale Power)
Deputy Chair: David Fletcher (Urenco)
The
Group promotes application of the CORDEL model to global SMR deployment,
presenting and discussing it at relevant international for a, such as the IAEA
SMR regulators’ forum and INPRO. It will continue to develop proposals for more
innovative and efficient licensing of SMRs, through looking at topics, such
as:in-factory certification of modules; inherent safety features and passive
safety system capability justification; changes needed in the
regulatory/licensing framework for non-LWR/advanced reactors; security
approaches and non-proliferation issues; emergency planning zones (EPZ).
Chair: Laurent-Olivier Coudeyre (EDF) Staff Director: Greg Kaser
The Group
supports members in monitoring and identifying market trends, providing
guidance on timely, consistent and efficient plant construction, and in
communicating with stakeholders on industrial developments. In 2018, links with
the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) and the European industry
association FORATOM were strengthened to avoid duplication and help amplify
industry’s voice. The September all-day meeting will be held jointly with FORATOM to discuss approaches that would facilitate the procurement of commercial-grade equipment in the context of the falling numbers of suppliers maintaining their nuclear quality certification.
The Group
reports regularly to the Multinational Design Evaluation Programme’s (MDEP’s)
Vendor Inspection Coordination Working Group (VICWG). The Staff Director assisted
the Nuclear Energy Agency and the VICWG in organising a workshop on supply
chain management in Paris in November 2018. It continues to work with the
Nuclear Quality Standard Association to help ensure that the new quality
management standard for the nuclear supply chain published by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO 19443) meets the needs and aspirations of
licensees and technology vendors.A
Memorandum of Understanding between a number of operators and reactor vendors
and the World Nuclear Association to devise a road map for a strengthened
system for qualifying auditors in certifying to the standard was agreed in late
2018.
The report
of the New Build Lesson-learning Task Force, which was published in April 2018,
attracted considerable interest.
In 2019 the Group also plans to undertake a review
of approaches and good practice in risk management and procurement along the
supply chain including localization. It will continue to engage with the
Nuclear Suppliers Group on export control issues and to monitor and provide
vendor input to a European Union project to widen the procurement gateway for
furnishing lower safety class components to a wider range of suppliers.
Co-Chairs: Mike Baron (Global Nuclear Associates) and Abderrahim Al Mazouzi (EDF) Staff Director: Mohammad Rababah
The
Group was set up as a forum for discussing means by which nuclear power plant
operators worldwide can improve the performance of their plants in areas such
as maintenance and availability. Its recent focus, prompted by the average age
of the global fleet reaching over 30 years, has been in the area of long-term
operations (LTO). The LTO Task Force monitors existing work performed by WANO,
NEA and IAEA in this field, and will produce an industry position paper to
support outreach to policy makers regarding the feasibility and importance of
continued operation of the existing fleet. The Task Force will also be a forum
for industry, including vendors and utilities, to share leading practice in
this field.
Waste Management and Decommissioning
The Group
monitors trends in waste management strategies on both the international and
local level, as it seeks to establish consensus regarding a more effective
system of nuclear waste management and decommissioning. The Group promotes
resource efficiency through the appropriate re-use and recycling of material,
and the safe long-term disposal of radioactive wastes from nuclear sites as
prescribed in national regulation.
Additionally, it cooperates with other Working Groups on topics of
mutual interest, such as the radiological protection of workers during
decommissioning, or with regard to multinational repositories.
In early 2019, the Working Group published a methodological guide for managing waste from decommissioning. The guide covers an array of strategic, technical and economic aspects of nuclear waste management. The report can be located here.
Cross-Cutting Working Groups
Radiological Protection
Chair: Marcel Lips (Kernkraftwerk Goesgen-Daeniken AG)
Deputy Chairs: Willie Harris (Exelon) and Chewn Pham (BHP Billiton) Staff Director: Charlotta Sanders
The Group
advocates scientifically-based policies and practices supported by industry
experience to provide sufficient protection to the worker, public and the
environment. It channels the global industry’s voice on radiological protection
(RP) questions, as it interfaces with institutions, such as the International
Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the International Atomic
Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Radiation Safety Standards Committee (RASSC).
The Group has developed an action plan for
current and future activities throughout 2019 and beyond. These activities
include involvement in IAEA RP-related committees and guidance document
processes, ICRP report reviews, and participation in other conferences.The Group will undertake a revision of the
Association’s position statements on ‘Risks of Low-dose Ionizing Radiation’ and
‘The Need for Robust Justification for Radiological Protection
Recommendations’.
Law
Chair: Chris White (Urenco)
Deputy Chair: Elina Teplinsky (Pillsbury) Staff Director: Philippe Costes
This Group was established with a mandate to raise awareness of the legal issues and developments affecting the global nuclear industry amongst the membership of the Association, as well as to provide a forum to the members’ legal representatives to discuss issues and development. The Group also liaises with other Working Groups and assists when necessary on ways to respond to specific legal challenges. It has developed mutually beneficial relationships with the legal offices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) as well as with other relevant stakeholders.
The Group
has focused in recent meetings on examining the consequences of ‘Brexit’ for
the nuclear industry, developments in global nuclear liability and insurance,
as well as issues in nuclear new build.
In 2019, the Group will continue to be a forum
for the exchange of information on contemporary legal topics, including the
impact of nuclear cooperation agreements on the nuclear industry. It will forge
greater connections with other Groups and cooperate on subjects of mutual
interest such as multi-national repositories.
Economics
Chair: Milton Caplan (MZ Consulting)
This Group’s
focus is on developing a better understanding of the economics and the capital
costs of nuclear plants, notably new plants. It also examines the
competitiveness of nuclear energy in the overall generating mix.
Its 2017
report, Nuclear Power Economics and Project Structuring, demonstrated that new
nuclear is justified in many countries on economic criteria alone and aimed at
identifying the key risks in a nuclear project.
With the objective of providing key inputs to
the Harmony programme, the Group in 2019 will examine: system/grid costs
associated with nuclear and other electricity generation; conditions for fair
competition among low-emission electricity generation; future changes that will
have an impact on electricity markets, such as costs of storage, load-following
and demand-side management; socio-economic benefits of nuclear development;
life-cycle analyses of low-carbon energy sources; and financing.
Security
Chair: Roger Howsley (World Institute for Nuclear Security) Staff Director: Greg Kaser
The mission of this Group is to share expertise and good practice between World Nuclear Association members in the field of nuclear security and establish the view of the industry on nuclear security. The Working Group supports the World Nuclear Association’s mission to foster public confidence in the nuclear industry in the areas of security and the securing of materials under industry control.
The Group supports the role of the IAEA in marshalling international cooperation in nuclear security and in publishing consensus recommendations which reflect current best practice. The Group is represented on the Nuclear Security Guidance Committee, which is responsible for developing IAEA recommendations on security. The Staff Director participated in an international conference held in Vienna on the security of radioactive material in December 2018.
In 2019 the Group plans to review good practice and exchange experience and ideas on a number of topics and issue industry position statements or recommendations. Among the topics to be examined are: mitigating insider threats; cybersecurity; the safety-security interface and culture; and security oversight as part of good corporate governance.
Advisory Groups
Advisory Panel
Chair: Tim Gitzel (Cameco)
Deputy Chair: Clark Beyer (Global Fuel Solutions) Staff Director: Virginie Ryan-Taix
The Advisory Panel has a consultative function. It seeks to identify challenges facing the global nuclear industry, opportunities to advance its position in policy arenas, and ways to improve the public acceptance of nuclear energy. It provide recommendations on how the World Nuclear Association should position itself in addressing these challenges.
Chair: Jayne Hallett (Urenco)
Deputy Chair: Adrian Bull (National Nuclear Laboratory) Staff Director: Vaishali Patel
The role of the Communication Group is to support the
Association by identifying communication opportunities and challenges facing
the industry and ways to address them. Its members also provide support to
specific projects decided by the Group and help disseminate key messages to the
wider industry and beyond.
|
