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ePaper created 2014-04-30, 16:22:09 | version 1.30.01
FOCUS// The HZDR Research Magazine WWW.Hzdr.DE 22 23 In contrast, Germany is exiting the field? Yes, as we all know, Germany has decided on a complete phase out from electric power generation through nuclear energy and commenced an energy turnaround. We now face the consequences that result from this. Nevertheless, we continue to need active research in reactor safety. Why is that? Well, on the one hand, the last German power plant will only go off-line in 2022. The German federal Atomic Energy Act prescribes that reactors shall be operated in accordance with the current state-of-the-art in engineering and science. This applies through the last day of operation and beyond. The keyword here for this is "post-operation phase". We can only accomplish this if we continue to actively pursue research. But it remains important even afterwards that we maintain our expertise. It is only through our own active research that we can influence international development and safety standards. Germany is one of the leaders in the field of reactor safety. It is politically desirable that we continue to support improving the safety of nuclear reactors. Moreover, we need an independent investigative and assessment authority for our government in the future as well. It is well known, of course, that neighboring countries are planning new construction of nuclear power plants, some with new types of reactors even. France is planning the construction of a liquid metal cooled reactor, for example. This is a completely different technology that we naturally can only really comprehend if we actively involve ourselves with it. And this expertise will become especially important if we want to influence the licensing procedures – which the EU permits neighboring countries to do. How could HZDR contribute here? We still maintain some of the traditions of the former Rossendorf nuclear research center, which is also why we have become members of the Atomic Energy Research organization as experts on WWERs. We were able to develop a high profile based upon this expertise in the area of reactor safety research. Our reactor dynamics program, DYN3D, was designed especially for WWER accident analysis, for instance. We extended the code in the 1990s to handle light water reactors built in the West. We've established DYN3D as an independent and complementary tool for both application areas. It is being used by research institutions, the nuclear industry, and by licensing authorities as well. Now we want to adapt the computer program to cover new types of designs, such as liquid metal cooled reactors. What is involved in that? We need to adapt the software to the specifics of these reactors and incorporate models for effects that do not occur in the reactors we’ve considered so far. Contact _Institute of Resource Ecology at HZDR Dr. Sören Kliem s.kliem@hzdr.de REACTOR SAFETY EXPERT: Sören Kliem Is it actually feasible in the long term to help determine international safety standards without operating one’s own nuclear reactors? But of course! There is already an example of this – following reunification, Germany abandoned WWER technology and shut down all of these reactors. But because we continued to conduct active research in this field, and by that I mean the reactor safety research conducted at HZDR, and produced pertinent results, we are still an important, recognized, and influential member within AER, even 20 years later. Following our exit from nuclear energy, this needs to be our goal for the future, and we have already demonstrated that this is feasible. Are you concerned that you soon may not have the new generation of scientists for such projects on account of the German energy turnaround? We’re not able to judge this accurately yet, the timeframe for that is still too short. The universities have thus far shown no sign of any serious drop in the fundamental areas. We need to check in two to three years whether the universities do show a drop, and if so, what special field of study this year's first-year students have chosen. Perhaps we will also get an increase in junior scientists from other countries again – a trend we saw during the Social-Democrat/Green Party coalition government during the exit from nuclear energy agreed with industry in 2002.