Back

ETSON Conference 2022

Nearly 100 participants attended the ETSON conference organized in Garching (Germany) from 11 to 13 October 2022 and introduced by Uwe STOLL, Director General of GRS.

The conference kicked off with an impulse speech of our Ukrainian partner on the topic of “nuclear safety in challenging times”. It was then followed by a round table discussion on this very up-to-the-minute topic, with interventions from senior representatives of the IAEA, the European Commission and ETSON.  Fruitful exchanges on strategic topics such as a discussion on critical nuclear infrastructures and research programmes in nuclear safety, together with the upcoming challenges in Nuclear Safety Cooperation in Europe, were at the heart of the debate.

Then, the ETSON “Junior Staff” organized the ETSON Award. A team from CEA-IRSN was this year’s winner, with the paper “Retention of radioactive methyl iodide in the context of nuclear industry: on the quantification of isotopic exchange contribution inside activated carbons”.

Over the following days, in preparation for the upcoming challenges in Nuclear Safety in Europe, a series of presentations and discussions on joint ETSON efforts, in particular through the various installed Expert Groups, allowed contributing to intensify the technical and scientific cooperation between the ETSON members and to continue organizing and strengthening nuclear research, cooperation and networking.

Special attention was devoted to the following topics:

  • Requirements and Approaches for the Assessment of External Hazards Impacting the Safety of NPPs
  • How TSOs are Facing Passive Systems Implementation in Present and Future Reactors; New developments concerning SMR have been widely introduced by multiple TSOs.
  • Operational Technical Report on Concrete Cases with Regard to HOF (Human & Organizational Factors)
  • Lessons Learned on, from and for PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessment)
  • Current Nuclear Safety Challenges in ETSON Member States
©GRS

Meanwhile, Bel V is already looking forward to welcoming the next ETSON Conference to Brussels in 2023 as its organizer.