EC-sponsored research activities on innovative passive safety systems Original Research Article

On April 26th 1994, the European Union (EU) adopted via a Council Decision a EURATOM Multiannual Programme for community activities in the field of nuclear fission safety (NFS) research for the period 1994–1998. An area of work having, as an objective, to ‘explore innovative approaches’ to improve the safety of future and existing reactors, was introduced in this programme. Most of the projects selected in this area were grouped under a common cluster known as ‘INNO’ and carried out on a ‘cost-shared’ basis, i.e. contribution of the European Commission is up to 50% of the total cost. The ‘INNO’ cluster was composed of eleven projects in which 35 different organisations, representing research centres, universities, regulators, utilities and vendors from seven EU member states and Switzerland, were involved. These projects proved to be an efficient means to gain the necessary phenomenological knowledge and to solve the challenging problems, many times of generic nature, posed among others by the characteristically small driving forces of the systems studied and by the lack of really prototypical test facilities.