From 18 to 20 January 2012, the technical safety organisations (TSOs) from the field of nuclear safety will convene in Vienna for the TSO Forum. A county's TSO supports the national licensing and supervisory authority in  scientific and technical issues regarding nuclear safety. At the meeting in Vienna, the TSO Forum, which has been initiated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will  also be formally established. The aim of the TSO Forum is to strengthen the role of the TSOs and promote their global co-operation.

GRS - the central TSO of the Federal German Nuclear Regulator
As technical safety organisation of the Federal Government, GRS carries out research and assessments mainly in the fields of nuclear reactor safety, repository safety, and radiation protection. Here, our main customers are i.a. the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Being part of the European Technical Safety Organisations Network (ETSON), GRS will also participate in the TSO Forum.

ETSON: a European network of technical safety organisations
In 2006, GRS, the French Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) and the Belgian Bel V jointly founded ETSON. Since then, ETSON has been a platform for the TSOs in Europe for exchanging information about research, development and assessment in the field of nuclear safety. At the same time, ETSON promotes co-operation between the TSOs and takes a stand for establishing similar standards and standardised methods in Europa for nuclear safety research and assessment.
The concrete technical work is carried out in ETSON Expert Groups. Following the reactor accident at Fukushima, the Expert Group on Emergency Preparedness was set up. This group co-ordinates the co-operation of the TSOs in the event of a nuclear accident. Owing to the generic character of the topic, not only the TSOs but also authority representatives participate in this group.

ETSON – a growing organisation
Apart from GRS, ETSON members include the TSOs of France (IRSN), Belgium (Bel V), Lithuania (LEI), Finland (VTT), the Slovak Republic (VUJE), the Czech Republic (UJV) and the Ukraine (SSTC, associated member). Since its foundation, ETSON has continuously been growing. The ninth safety organisation joining - as associated member - was the Japanese Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES) in 2011. Being an associated member, JNES collaborates as a non-European organisation in the association of the  European TSOs.

For the year 2012, three further TSOs have already applied for accession to the network, namely the Swiss Paul Scherer Institute (PSI), the Russian Scientific and Engineering Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SEC NRS), and the Polish National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ).

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