Safety of light water small modular reactors (LW-SMRs)

Call updates

Nov 21, 2023 6:38:59 PM

CALL UPDATE: PROPOSAL NUMBERS
Call HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01 has closed on 8 November 2023.

45 proposals have been submitted.

The breakdown per topic is:

HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01-02: 1 proposal

Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in February/March 2024.

Apr 4, 2023 12:00:02 AM

The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01-02(EURATOM-IA)

Safety of light water small modular reactors (LW-SMRs)

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01-02

Programme: Euratom Research and Training Programme (EURATOM)
Call: Nuclear Research and Training (HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01)
Type of action: EURATOM-IA EURATOM Innovation Actions
Type of MGA: EURATOM Action Grant Budget-Based [EURATOM-AG]
Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 04 April 2023
Deadline date: 08 November 2023 17:00:00 Brussels time

ExpectedOutcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to some of the following expected outcomes:

Ensure that LW-SMRs are designed, sited, constructed, commissioned, operated and decommissioned in line with the requirements of the Nuclear Safety Directive, Basic Safety Standards Directive and Radioactive Waste Management Directive, with particular focus on their safety features and passive safety systems.
Establish, for example through regular exchanges, a shared and coherent approach among regulators to safety requirements for LW-SMRs, further improving safety across the Community.
Support safety innovation and competencies in LW-SMRs while allowing some Member States to contribute to the energy transition according to and respecting the EU technology neutrality principle and thus increase Member State and EU energy security.
Scope:
There is growing interest in some EU Member States in using small modular reactors (SMRs) for flexible power generation. This provides the opportunity of cogeneration and enables hybrid energy systems that integrate nuclear and renewables.

SMRs are defined as power reactors up to 300 MWe, whose components can be factory-made and transported as modules for installation. There is consensus within the international expert community that SMRs, when compared to large power plants, offer potential advantages in terms of design simplification and inherent safety features, while posing some new challenges with regard to safety, security and safeguards.

Research proposals should address safety aspects on integration of LW-SMRs in the hybrid energy system, including the evaluation of optimal electric grid management and safety by design.

Research proposals should also address some LW-SMR safety specificities such as:

core/fuel (including fuel qualification);
nuclear steam supply system integrated vessel and its internals;
demonstration of natural circulation passive safety systems also in transient conditions;
streamlined harmonised licensing;
severe accident analysis;
emergency preparedness and response;
human and environmental radiation protection;
safety, security and safeguard interfaces from the early design stage;
modularity, human factors and hybridisation/(co)generation of heat/H2 production/desalination.
These research proposals should also address the minimisation of and management options for radioactive waste arising from LW-SMRs; to that end, links should be established with relevant initiatives within the EURAD-2 partnership.

These relate among others to the development of methods and tools to increase safety, the availability of systems, structures and components needed for reliable and safe operation, core physics and thermal hydraulics, radiation protection specificities, monitoring, artificial intelligence, digital twins, modelling or simulation, and probabilistic safety assessment, including multi-unit effects.