TOPICAL PEER REVIEW 2017 on ageing management of NPPs according to Directive 2014/87/EURATOM on nuclear safety
Directive 2014/87/EURATOM introduces a Topical Peer Review process at European level on nuclear safety issues, which was launched in 2017 and will be repeated every six years. The ENSREG (European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group), in which activities the National Center for Nuclear Safety and Radioprotection participates, has identified as the first subject of review the ageing management of nuclear plants. It is envisaged that Member States prepare national assessment reports to be submitted to the aforementioned "Peer Review" process which is held in the period January - May 2018. This process also includes a phase of involvement and consultation of stakeholders, starting on January 8th and ending on February 28th. Further information can be found in the ENSREG website (link: www.ensreg.eu ), where national reports are also published.
For Italy, the review process concerns only the research reactors in operation, being, as well known, all the Italian nuclear plants in the “decommissioning” phase. Only research reactors with power of 1 MWth or more are included in the “Topical Peer Review”.
The relative national report, published here, has been sent to the European Commission. It concerns in particular the TRIGA RC-1 reactor (1MWth), managed by ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), based in the Casaccia Research Center in Rome) and the TRIGA MARK II (0.250 MWth), managed by the Applied Nuclear Energy Laboratory (LENA), University of Pavia. The TRIGA MARK II reactor was selected on a voluntary basis, being its power below the above power reference level of 1 MWth to be considered for the “Peer Review” process.
The report also provides information on the regulatory framework for the research reactors.
The report, according to Legislative Decree no. 137/2017 with which the Directive 2014/87/EURATOM has been transposed in to the national legislation, has been drafted by the National Center for Nuclear Safety and Radioprotection of the Institute on the basis of specific self assessment reports by the licensees, conducted on request by the National Center.