Senior Expert Group on Safety Research Opportunities Post-Fukushima (SAREF)
Ongoing
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The Senior Expert Group on Safety Research Opportunities Post-Fukushima (SAREF) was established at the June 2013 CSNI meeting to identify research activities to address safety research knowledge gaps related to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, which would also support safe and timely decommissioning in Japan.

The scope of work for the group included identifying research activities that used information from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, either immediately available or to be acquired during decommissioning, to provide additional safety knowledge of common interest to NEA member countries. The group submitted a report with recommendations for safety research activities to CSNI in 2016.

As a result of extensive discussions among the senior experts, the group has prioritised research options that make use of existing information from the Fukushima Daiichi site or experimental research activities as well as information that will be obtained during decommissioning operations.

Near-term projects were proposed to undertake in preparation for more complex undertakings, such as sampling damaged fuel and reactor core components over the long term. It was also recommended that the second phase will start in 3 to 5 years when new information comes for discussing potential long-term activities taking into account feasibilities in terms of dose estimates, human resources and costs.  As such, SAREF will continue as an ongoing process.

Members of the senior expert group

Representatives from Canada, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States participated in this expert group.

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) of Japan chaired the group.

Publications and reports
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result
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