Recent advances in the source term area within the SARNET European severe accident research network

Abstract

Source Term has been one of the main research areas addressed within the SARNET network during the 7th EC Framework Programme of EURATOM. The entire source term domain was split into three major areas: oxidising impact on source term, iodine chemistry in the reactor coolant system and containment and data and code assessment. The present paper synthesises the main technical outcome stemming from the SARNET FWP7 project in the area of source term and includes an extensive list of references in which deeper insights on specific issues may be found. Besides, based on the analysis of the current state of the art, an outlook of future source term research is outlined, where major changes in research environment are discussed (i.e., the end of the Phébus FP project; the end of the SARNET projects; and the launch of HORIZON 2020). Most probably research projects will be streamlined towards: release and transport under oxidising conditions, containment chemistry, existing and innovative filtered venting systems and others. These will be in addition to a number of projects that have been completed or are ongoing under different national and international frameworks, like VERDON, CHIP and EPICUR started under the International Source Term Programme (ISTP), the OECD/CSNI programmes BIP, BIP2, STEM, THAI and THAI2, and the French national programme MIRE. The experimental PASSAM project under the 7th EC Framework programme, focused on source term mitigation systems, is highlighted as a good example of a project addressing potential enhancement of safety systems based on already available knowledge.