Tasks

• The terms of reference of this committee include the management of specific external research and development projects and the co-ordination of participation in internal research programmes like CABRI, REBUS and HALDEN. Committee members are represented in the respective steering bodies.

Service

• The nuclear power plant operators generally utilize the project results for safety-related qualifications or for operational improvements.The individual applications are checked by the lisencing authorities and their independent expert organisations.

Projects

• The working panel covers both, PWR- and BWR-specific topics. The current projects deal with questions of neutronic and thermohydraulic core layout and with questions of operational performance of fuel elements and fuel pins. Additionally, post-irradiation investigations were initialized with the aim to improve the knowledge base for the operational behaviour of high burn-up nuclear fuel.

Another important task for the working group is the participation in rulemaking panels like DIN and KTA.