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What has happened in the field of nuclear energy last year? What developments can be observed internationally? In 2021, a total of six new reactor units were connected to the grid, including one small modular reactor – on the other hand, ten units have been decommissioned, including three of the six German units that have remained until then. Accordingly, the installed net capacity decreased to a total of 388,600 megawatts.
A good ten years after the nuclear accident in Fukushima, the nuclear phase-out in Germany is about to be completed: Three plants will be finally taken off the grid this year, the last three by the end of next year. But nuclear power plants (NPPs) are by no means shut down everywhere – around the world, very different paths are followed with regard to the use of nuclear energy for electricity generation.
In addition to recovering the highly radioactive core melt from the affected reactor units, the disposal of enormous quantities of contaminated water represents the greatest challenge in the clean-up of the Fukushima Daiichi site. More than one million tonnes of it are stored in large tank areas on the plant site. While the space for new tanks will soon be exhausted at the site, the amount of water is increasing with each passing day.
In 2011, the most severe nuclear accident since Chernobyl occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site in Japan. The accident was classified at the highest level of the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).
In 2011, the most severe nuclear accident since Chernobyl occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site in Japan. The accident was classified at the highest level of the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).
Our GRS colleague Dr Michael Maqua has been performing the function of INES Officer for Germany on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment for more than 13 years. INES stands for "International Nuclear and radiological Event Scale", a scale for the classification of nuclear events and accidents. The trained engineer followed the events around the nuclear accident at Fukushima from the GRS emergency centre. In this interview, he answers our questions about how he remembers this time.
GRS publishes new version of its AC² code package
Once again, 11 March marks the anniversary of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Several thousand workers are still doing their jobs on the plant site every month - primarily to prepare the dismantling of the destroyed reactors. On the occasion of the anniversary, we look back on the main events and developments of the past year in this article.
Coordinated by the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/NEA), a new international research project has been launched to examine further the accident sequences at Fukushima Daiichi. Together with 21 institutions from 11 countries, Germany - represented by GRS - will also participate in the project "Analysis of Information from Reactor Buildings and Containment Vessels of Fukushima Daiichi NPS" (ARC-F). The three-year project is led by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).
Previous fuel concepts in nuclear power plants with light-water reactors typically include uranium dioxide as fuel and cladding tubes made of a zirconium alloy. Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) refers to alternative cladding and fuel concepts designed to improve core behaviour under accident conditions compared to the current standard system, specifically, to tolerate the loss of cooling in the core for a longer period of time. The first ATFs have already been used on a trial basis in nuclear power plants, for example in Belgium or Switzerland. As part of a research project, GRS scientists investigated which concepts are currently being developed, how advanced they are and to what extent they could have mitigated the progression of real reactor accidents. The results show potential, but also challenges, and provide a sound basis for the further safety assessment of these new technologies.