International Conference on Resilience of Nuclear Installations against External Events from a Safety Perspective – Focus on Climate Change

Scientific Programme

1.Identification and analysis of external hazards, consideration of uncertainties in hazard analyses, and events resulting from combined hazards

• 1.1 Site selection and site evaluation: risk-informed approaches, management of site investigations, and integration with non-safety criteria

• 1.2 Hazard analysis methods: scenario definition and time-dependent aspects

• 1.3 Climate change modelling: projection in time and identification of extreme and rare meteorological phenomena

• 1.4 Treatment of hazard combinations in safety assessments

• 1.5 Decision making with high uncertainties.

2.Impact of external hazards on nuclear installations and radioactive waste disposal facilities

• 2.1 Lessons learned from recent events: climate-related, seismic, and human induced, including data analysis and processing tools

• 2.2 Simulations of climate-related natural hazards (e.g., floods, hurricanes) and their impact on nuclear installations

• 2.3 Impacts on installation safety and operations from rising sea level, heat sink temperatures, water availability, abundance of biologic agents, extreme weather, etc

• 2.4 Lessons learned from considering climate change in the demonstration of safety of radioactive waste disposal facilities.

3.Safety features of innovative emergent reactor designs and their contribution to resilience

• 3.1 Adapting nuclear installations to changing environmental conditions

• 3.2 Safety assessment methods including risk indicators, robustness, resilience, safety targets, and defence-in-depth considerations

• 3.3 Resilience of the energy infrastructure, component and structure fragilities, human factors, deterministic and probabilistic approaches (including vital area identification methods)

• 3.4 Monitoring systems and techniques, including warning systems based on real-time data collection and short-term forecasts to aid operator actions

• 3.5 Use of artificial intelligence to assist operator decision making and contingency plans

• 3.6Evaluation of safety of deeply embedded advanced reactors and associated construction and cost issues.

4. Post-event response

• 4.1Potential modifications to emergency planning zones, facility and operator response, equipment additions to enhance resilience

• 4.2 Post-event recovery plans and public communication strategies

• 4.3 International collaboration in emergency preparedness and disaster response

• 4.4 Post-event recovery actions: walkdowns and informed-operation restart.

5.Risk-informed, performance-based approaches for safety assessments of nuclear installations against external events

• 5.1 Evaluation of resilience strategies: applying risk management tools to enhance nuclear safety

• 5.2 Evaluation of seismic base isolators from a safety perspective

• 5.3 Evaluation of new technologies, such as steel concrete plate construction, and their impact on nuclear installation safety assessments.

6. Regulatory matters related to enhancing nuclear installation resilience

• 6.1 Regulatory practices regarding external hazards affected by climate change

• 6.2 International obligations under the Convention on Nuclear Safety and resilience under the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety to address topics related to climate change.