Since its foundation, the RSK has been engaged in the exchange of experiences with partner organisations from other countries which - as is the case with the RSK - are independent commissions established in accordance with national regulations. The peer review of occurrences and findings in the context of safety, the joint discussion of technical issues and the exchange on different approaches to safety concepts form an essential prerequisite for the further development of reactor safety and the safe disposal of radioactive wastes in an effective manner.
In addition to the exchange of meeting results, the international co-operation of the RSK concentrates on regular joint meetings on selected topics with the current partner organisations:
- Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), USA
- Eidgenössische Kommission für nukleare Sicherheit (KNS), Schweiz
- Groupe permanent d'experts pour les réacteurs nucléaires (GPR), Frankreich
- Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC), Japan
- Reaktorsäkerhetsnämnden (RSN), Schweden
In April 2002, representatives of the RSK Committee on SUPPLY AND WASTE HANDLING had a meeting with representatives of GPD which concentrated on the following topics:
Working programme of the GPD, including the French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (ANDRA) and the RSK Committee on SUPPLY AND WASTE HANDLING,
state of research in Germany regarding the disposal of radioactive wastes,
short-term research programmes at the potential repository site Bure in France,
requirements for the conditioning and interim storage of low and intermediate level waste,
preparation of the joint meeting of the RSK Committee on SUPPLY AND WASTE HANDLING and GPD in May 2003.
In the year 2002, a major event of international co-operation was the so-called "Quadripartite Meeting 2002". On invitation of the RSK, their partner organisations from France, Japan and the USA came to Berlin from October 23 - 25, 2002, in order to exchange together with the RSK their latest experiences and assessments in the field of nuclear safety. This kind of conference takes place in turns at intervals of about four years. For the first time, issues concerning fuel storage, waste management and transport were also addressed, and delegates of the Swiss and Swedish reactor safety commissions attended the conference.
This conference concentrated on recent findings in the field of corrosion, radiolysis gas reaction and plant management in Germany, France, Japan and the USA as well as on conception-related issues, such as safety culture and the safety management at nuclear facilities, the "risk-informed regulation" based on probabilistic analyses and the description and computer-based simulation of thermal-hydraulic processes.
For the first time in the frame of this conference, safety aspects concerning the interim storage of spent fuel, concepts for the disposal of radioactive material and transport of nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes were addressed. This shows the growing international importance of questions related to waste management and transport of radioactive material.
The conference included eight sessions on the following topics:
Safety Culture and Safety Management
PSA/PSR/Risk Informed Regulation
Thermal Hydraulic Analysis and Code Issues
Stress Corrosion Cracks in Pressure Retaining Components in NPP
Actual Issues
Cladding Failures by Fretting at Cattenom 3
Break of the Reactor Pressure Vessel Head Spray Pipe at NPP Brunsbuettel
Pipe Rupture Incident in Hamaoka Unit-1
Incident at Davis Besse
Refuelling Error at Dampierre 4
Safety of Spent Fuel Storage
Waste Disposal Concepts; Performance Assessment for the Disposal; Safety Assessment of Final Repositories
Transport of Spent Fuel and Waste
Commission members from the four countries introduced respective presentations, of which the essential contents were reported and then jointly discussed. The session chairmen prepared comprehensive summaries of the sessions' results; afterwards the conclusions were discussed together.
All commissions judged the meeting as very important and emphasised the importance to continue the exchange of experience on a regular basis in order to support further improvement of the safety of nuclear installations in their countries and to achieve similar positions at an international level concerning safety issues in the nuclear field.
In May 2003, a meeting was held between the RSK Committee on SUPPLY AND WASTE HANDLING and GPD. At the request of the French side, the meeting took place in Greifswald to get more information at the Energiewerke Nord on decommissioning activities, the storage of radioactive wastes and the release of radioactive materials from regulatory control. Further topics of discussion were, among others:
state of the waste management strategies in Germany and in France,
safety requirements for the interim storage of low and intermediate level waste in the longer term in Germany,
recording and management of specific old wastes in France,
waste management of major waste producers in France,
continuation of the work at the potential repository site Bure (underground laboratory),
status of the repository for radioactive wastes in Morsleben.
Commission members from the four countries introduced respective presentations, of which the essential contents were reported and then jointly discussed. The session chairmen prepared comprehensive summaries of the sessions' results; afterwards the conclusions were discussed together.
All commissions judged the meeting as very important and emphasised the importance to continue the exchange of experience on a regular basis in order to support further improvement of the safety of nuclear installations in their countries and to achieve similar positions at an international level concerning safety issues in the nuclear field.
In May 2003, a meeting was held between the RSK Committee on SUPPLY AND WASTE HANDLING and GPD. At the request of the French side, the meeting took place in Greifswald to get more information at the Energiewerke Nord on decommissioning activities, the storage of radioactive wastes and the release of radioactive materials from regulatory control. Further topics of discussion were, among others:
state of the waste management strategies in Germany and in France,
safety requirements for the interim storage of low and intermediate level waste in the longer term in Germany,
recording and management of specific old wastes in France,
waste management of major waste producers in France,
continuation of the work at the potential repository site Bure (underground laboratory),
status of the repository for radioactive wastes in Morsleben.
In June 2003, RSK and KSA held a joint meeting in Karlsruhe. This meeting also concentrated on topics of special interest with regard to mutual information and exchange of experiences.
Maintaining knowledge and personnel situation (safety relevance):
Situation in Switzerland
Situation in Germany
Safety management:
Safety management indicators in Germany
further analyses and evaluations of indications at a German nuclear power plant
Supervisory methods in Switzerland
Safety indicators, procedures and state of implementation in Switzerland
State and importance of and experiences with self-assessments, and national and international reviews (e. g. WANO, IAEA):
Experiences with OSART and IRRT missions in Switzerland
Experiences with reviews in Germany
Power increase:
Questions/assessments related to power increases in Germany
Assessment criteria for power increases at Swiss nuclear power plants
Waste management programmes / interim storage:
Demonstration of feasibility of safe disposal and site selection; opalinus clay in Switzerland
results of the work of the Committee on a Site selection Procedure for Repository Sites (AkEnd) in Germany
The meeting was followed by a visit of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Nuclear Facilities Decommissioning Division) where information were given on conditioning and storage facilities for radioactive wastes and on the vitrification facility for the solidification of the liquid high level waste from the reprocessing plant operated from 1971 to 1990.