A virtual kick-off meeting was held for the new ESTER project on 28-30 September 2020 with participants from 12 organisations in eight countries. The joint project is led by the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) with the support of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
The four-year project is aimed at conducting and analysing experiments that address remobilisation of fission product deposits that might occur during a severe nuclear accident and contribute to delayed releases. Another objective of the project is to obtain an improved understanding of processes involved in the formation of organic iodines in the containment. Both of these objectives were identified as important research areas in a Source Term Workshop organised by the NEA Working Group on the Analysis and Management of Accidents (WGAMA) in January 2019.
The outcomes of the ESTER project will be used to support evaluations of source term and accident management strategies. The new Joint Project has strong links with other ongoing and concluded joint projects in this field: the Behaviour of Iodine Project (BIP), the Source Term Evaluation and Mitigation (STEM) Project, the Thermal-hydraulics, Hydrogen, Aerosols and Iodine (THAI) Project, and the THAI Experiments on Mitigation measures, and source term issues to support analysis and further Improvement of Severe accident management measures (THEMIS) project.