Team Korea to Lead International Research on Nuclear Safety

 - Korean consortium established for the “3rd phase of the OECD/NEA ATLAS international joint research project”-

Six Korean organizations in the field of nuclear energy joined forces to carry out an international joint research project on safety for nuclear power plants. Led by Korea, the project will have 19 organizations from 10 countries, including the US, France, China, and Germany participating.

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) announced that a partnership agreement signing ceremony was held on April 7, 2021 to launch a Korean consortium to perform the 3rd phase of OECD/NEA ATLAS joint project, aimed at enhancing the safety of nuclear power plants. The ceremony was attended by representatives from KAERI as well as those from five other consortium member organizations in the nuclear energy sector – namely, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.’s affiliated Central Research Institute (KHNP-CRI), KEPCO Engineering & Construction Co., KEPCO Nuclear Fuel and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.

The OECD/NEA ATLAS project is an international joint research project under the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) whose main objective is to evaluate and enhance the safety of nuclear power plants. Experiments for this joint project are performed by using ATLAS (Advanced Thermal-Hydraulic Test Loop for Accident Simulation) designed and operated independently by KAERI.

The project’s 1st phase from 2014 to 2017 and 2nd phase from 2017 to 2020 were completed successfully, and its 3rd phase is scheduled to start from this year for a four-year period. KAERI will play a leading role not only in providing experimental data produced from ATLAS for participating countries, but also in performing the overall joint research by establishing methodologies for analysis and interpretation of experimental results.

Through the consortium, the six participating organizations agreed to strengthen research cooperation for the 3rd phase of OECD/NEA ATLAS international joint research and to pay their share of expenses. Of the 4 million EUR (about 5.4 billion KRW) required for the international joint research, the Korean consortium will shoulder 2 million EUR, half of the total costs.

The international joint research will be focused on addressing some of the most pressing issues related to enhancing the level of safety at nuclear power plants that have gained importance after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident such as loss of coolant at the core beyond the current design basis accident, while also performing experiments to validate new safety concepts, including passive safety systems.

Dr. Jin-ho Park, Senior Vice President for Nuclear Safety Research at KAERI remarked, “The consortium will help strengthen cooperation among relevant organizations in the nuclear energy sector and give yet another impetus to the OECD/NEA ATLAS international joint research project. This will enable Korea to lead a global research on nuclear power plant safety while also enhancing the safety and technological competitiveness of nuclear power plants across the country.”