Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire - IRSN
IRSN is the technical safety organization for the French safety authority (ASN). IRSN groups together more than 1700 experts and researchers. IRSN carries out research, analysis and work in the fields of nuclear safety, protection against ionizing rays, control and protection of nuclear materials and protection against acts of malevolence. IRSN plays an active role in providing information to the public within its fields of expertise: nuclear and radiological risks.
The IRSN benefits from more than 25 years of experience on research and analysis of reactor safety, safety systems assessment, external and internal hazards impact on safety, and risk assessment. Both deterministic and probabilistic studies are assessed and performed. The competence is effectively used for safety assessment and performing assessments for NPPs in operation, new GEN III (especially EPR) and IV reactors (GIF Forum), marine propulsion reactors and experimental facilities. Nuclear reactors are also assessed in the frame of international cooperation (EU INSC projects, ETSON). IRSN participates actively in the safety assessment of other reactor plants as VVER. Important aspects in the safety assessment are related to mechanical strength of components.
IRSN has an important experience in particular in deterministic and probabilistic safety assessment, and thermal-hydraulic analyses, by issuing assessments, participating in code development, validation and verification, definition of advanced methods for uncertainties evaluation, etc. IRSN participated to international projects for PWR in OECD (BEMUSE, PKL, ROSA, PREMIUM, SAPIUM) or EC (NURISP, NURESAFE) frames.
In APAL, IRSN will be involved in WP1 to participate to the literature review and share its experience (based on the French experience) to define state of the art regarding LTO improvements. IRSN will also contribute to WP4 to perform thermal-hydraulic calculations with CATHARE system code, as input of a mechanical methodology, in order to evaluate the margin factor regarding the risk of RPV failure, in the frame of a statistical approach.
