Afholdte seminarier

NKS-B MareNuc

Workshop: Impact assessment of accidents with nuclear-propelled vessels

4th-5th of October 2010, Reykjavik

There is no well–defined system for classification of accidents associated with naval reactors in general as for civilian power plants. For civilian facilities of similar size, the reference accident used as a basis for further analysis varies between a Design Basis Accident describing complete and partial meltdown followed by water/ aluminium interaction and loss of mitigating systems. Considering the fact that neighbouring countries may soon embark upon construction of a new generation of naval reactors, there is a need to systemize the approach for assessing possible consequences of accidents in relation to these installations. Floating power reactors also involve new safety challenges that need to be discussed.

At the workshop in Reykjavík presentations were given on Russian icebreakers and other surface vessels; operational experiences and design of nuclear-propelled vessels; review of incidents and potential release scenarios; safety assessments concerning nuclear powered vessels made by the International Safety Research, Canada and the IAEA generic modeling tool. Representatives from the Nordic authorities also gave presentations on methods, procedures and systems (such as ARGOS) that have been used for assessing atmospheric dispersion and possible consequences related to nuclear powered vessels (STUK, NRPA, IRSA and DEMA).

The workshop was attended by 20 persons, including representatives from IAEA, NATO and the Nordic radiation protection authorities.

Contact person Ole Reistad (ole.reistad@nrpa.no)

NKS-B GammaSem

Nordic seminar for users of gamma spectrometry

28th-29th September 2010, Kjeller, Norway

Organised by the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Denmark; Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Icelandic Radiation Safety Authority, National Institute of Radiation Protection, Denmark, Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Swedish Defence Research Agency, Malmö University Hospital, Sweden.

A Nordic seminar for users of gamma spectrometry took place in Norway 28-29 September 2010 with 65 participants. The seminar was the second seminar of this type and provided a forum for discussions and sharing of information on practical issues concerning gamma spectrometry. One of the aims of the seminars is to strengthen the Nordic collaboration through networking of scientists and gamma spectrometry users.

At GammaSem 2009 different key issues for follow-up were identified and working groups were established on various aspects of gamma spectrometry. The topics for the working groups formed the basis for the GammaSem 2010 agenda, where the groups presented results of their work and ideas/solutions to the different problems. The working group topics were

• Uncertainties and detection limits
• True coincidence summing corrections
• Monte Carlo simulations and efficiency transfer
• Absorption (density corrections and geometries)
• Mobile systems for gamma spectrometry
• Nuclear forensics (on special samples and special parts of the spectra)

In addition, Dr. Lars-Erik De Geer gave a presentation about the fundamentals of true coincidence summing correction and when/why it is important.

Contact person Elisabeth Strålberg (elisas@ife.no)

Pdfs of all the presentations made at this workshop can be downloaded here.

NKS-B DepEstimates

Seminar on radionuclide deposition estimates, results from work in the Nordic countries, possibilities and limitations

13-14 of September 2010, Risø, Denmark

The experience of the deposition from the Chernobyl accident and the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons is fading into the past, most of the deposition monitoring programmes have stopped or been radically reduced, few are now actively conducting studies in this field. Deposition estimates continue, however, to be important, e.g. for emergency response planning. Estimation of background values is important for assessing potential additional deposition. When a suspected event occurs, there may be no background measurements available and even if they are, they may be too few to be representative for the place or region of concern.

In recent years databases with compilation of nuclear fallout data have become available. Studies on fallout and deposition have been made in some of the Nordic countries, e.g. using precipitation as a basis for deposition estimates. The NKS-B activity DepEstimates has followed up the some of this Nordic work.

At the DepEstimates seminar at Risø results from previous NKS activities (in particular NKS-B ECODOSES) were summarised and description of recent published studies in individual Nordic countries were given by Tone D. Bergan, Mats Isaksson and Jussi Paatero. Sigurður Emil Pálsson presented a study that was carried out within DepEstimates. The study involved a statistical evaluation of the US EML global fallout data set as well as the UK AERE (Harwell) and the Risø data sets. The results showed that in the Northern hemisphere much of the variability in the data can be explained by using only precipitation data along with a general function of time (common for all locations). This simple relationship between precipitation and deposition rates makes it feasible to reconstruct deposition time series, which can be important when time dependent radioecological models are being validated using old data. Such work has e.g. been done within NKS-B PardNor. The model makes it easy to derive approximative fallout maps for radionuclides with a similar behaviour as Sr-90 (such as Cs and Pu). Such maps are important when background estimates are needed. The do not replace sampling at individual spots, they complement sampling. The non-linear behaviour of the model can possibly help to understand depositon better, since the behaviour has the same form as has been suggested for the scavenging coefficient.

The DepEstimate activity is being concluded with a final report giving short summaries of the publications presented at the seminar as well as the study being concluded. At the seminar there was a consensus that study presented should be developed into a scientific paper and participants were invited to become co-authors by contributing to this work. The paper is to be submitted by spring 2011.

Contact person: Sigurður Emil Pálsson, sep@gr.is

NOMAGE4 GenIV seminar

A NOMAGE4 GenIV seminar was held in Laappenranta, Finland, from September 30th to October 1st 2010.

The objective of the NOMAGE4 project is to start and maintain a Nordic Nuclear Materials Forum for nuclear materials for Generation IV reactors (GenIV) within the Nordic countries.

Contact person: Sami Penttilä

NKS-R Decom-Sem

September 14th-16th, 2010

A seminar on the theme “Decommissioning of nuclear facilities” was arranged in Studsvik, Nyköping, Sweden. The seminar was sponsored by NKS and arranged by Studsvik Nuclear AB and SKB. Contact person is Anders Appelgren and more information can be found at http://www.studsvik.se/nksdecom2010.

Presentations from the seminar can be found here.

NKS-R DIGREL

September 14, 2010

A workshop was held in the NKS project DIGREL on "Guidelines for reliability analysis of digital systems in PSA context".

The aim with the workshop was to

• present results from the pre-project phase of the NKS project on "Guidelines for reliability analysis of digital systems in PSA context"

• plan the next phases of the project

The workshop was arranged September 14 2010 at VTT:s facilities in Espoo, Helsinki. Contact person Jan-Erik Holmberg

Pdfs of all the presentations made at this workshop can be downloaded here.

NKS-B FOOD workshop - Nordic workshop for authorities, organisations and institutions responsible for late phase countermeasures and safe food production in nuclear emergencies

Losby Gods, Norway

14-15 April, 2010

The purpose of the workshop was to share national practice and experience on the use of different tools (handbooks, late phase models etc.) during a crisis with focus on operational implementation and use, interpretation and verification of results and production of decision basis. The main goal was to establish a common ground to better understand how these are used in the different countries, identify differences and exchange knowledge to increase competence. Second goal was to gather stakeholders and authorities with interest or responsibility for countermeasures against radioactive contamination of food products to share experience in different topics as:

• Cooperation among stakeholders and organisations responsible for food safety in each country
• Adaptation of the Euranos handbook "Countermeasures for the management of food production systems" to national conditions and implementation of the handbook in each country
• Establishing a Nordic network for food authorities and radiation protection authorities responsible for food safety with respect to radioactivity

There were 23 participants representing all the Nordic countries. Some of the speakers present were Klas Rosèn (SLU), Kasper Andersson (RISØ), representatives from the Nordic food authorities and Ministries, representatives from the radiation protection authorities and one speaker from the food industry.

Concluding remarks from the workshop:

Tight and continuous cooperation between decision support system developers, radiation protection authorities and food authorities are necessary to succeed in an emergency situation. Systems for involving of stakeholders and food producers in decision making are essential. A Nordic cooperation will also contribute to harmonisation of the countermeasure strategies in food production in emergency situations. The workshop agreed that a Nordic network of representatives from the food- and radiation protection authorities will make an application to NKS for a new project on implementation of the Euranos handbook "Countermeasures for the management of food production systems" in the next program period.

Pdfs of all the presentations made at this workshop can be downloaded here.

Contact person:

Inger Margrethe H. Eikelmann

Probabilistic Risk Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants

Wednesday January 13, 2010 (9.00 – 15.30)

Arlanda Conference Center (conference room "Boeing 737")­ Stockholm Arlanda Airport (Sky City)

The 4th and final project seminar within the NKS project "The Validity of Safety Goals" will be held in Stockholm on January 13, 2010. This project was initiated in 2006 with the aim to discuss and document current views on the definition, application and use of probabilistic safety criteria, including both benefits and problems. The seminar will give an overview of the work performed during all four project years, with a focus on presenting the activities during the final project year and on the presentation and discussion of the guidance document prepared, "Guidance for the Definition and Application of Probabilistic Safety Criteria".

Agenda:  programme_and_list_of_participants.doc (93 KB)

NKS-R activity NOMAGE seminar

15-16 October 2009 Horsvik Conference, Studsvik Nuclear, Nyköping, Sweden.

The objective of the activity is to initiate a Nordic Nuclear Materials Forum to spread the knowledge of nuclear materials for Generation IV reactors within the Nordic countries.

The Agenda:  agenda_genivmeeting_20090918.pdf (56.9 KB)

NKS-B RadWorkshop - Workshop on Radioanalytical Chemistry for Radioecology and Waste Management

Roskilde, Risø-DTU, Denmark

16-20 November 2009

This workshop was organised by the Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, DTU, Denmark; University of Helsinki, Finland; Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway; Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; and Lund University, Sweden.

32 participants took part in this workshop; 8 from Denmark, 7 from Norway, 4 from Finland, 9 from Sweden and 3 from Lithuania and 1 from Ireland, with 15 invited speakers.

The objectives of this workshop were:

1) To provide the participants with an overview of the radiochemical analytical methods for the determination of various radionuclides (mainly beta and alpha emitting) relevant to environmental radioactivity and waste management

2) To provide an opportunity to the participants getting knowledge and practical (hands-on) experience of state-of-the-art measurement techniques used for the determination of different radionuclides by participating in practical training in the laboratory (experimental demonstration and analysis of real samples)

3) To provide a forum for knowledge exchange of radioanalysis of various radionuclides and discussion of present radiochemical procedures for the individual radionuclides.

The workshop included both invited lectures and presentations of the participants as well as laboratory training/practice in one of the following areas:

1) Radiochemcial separation of ⁹⁰Sr, ²¹⁰Po, ²²⁶Ra and γ- and α-spectrometry measurement

2) Radiochemcial separation of ⁹⁹Tc, Pu isotopes and ICP-MS measurement

3) Radiochemcial separation of ³H, ¹⁴C, ⁵⁵Fe, ⁶³Ni, and LSC measurement.

Topics for the lectures included:

1) General aspects in radiochemical analysis for radionuclide

2) Separation techniques for determination of radionculides

3) Radiochemical separation methods of various radionuclides including isotopes of Pu, U,  Th, and Ra, ²³⁷Np, ²⁴¹Am, ²¹⁰Po, ²¹⁰Pb, ⁹⁹Tc, ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, ³H, ¹⁴C, ³⁶Cl, ⁴¹Ca ⁵⁵Fe, ⁶³Ni, and ¹²⁹I.

4) Sampling and pre-concentration techniques for environmental radioactivity analysis

5) Radiometric analytical techniques including γ- and α-spectrometry, beta counting with Ultra-low level background G-M counter, and Liquid Scintillation counting.

6) Mass spectrometric and other techniques for long-lived radionuclides including ICP-MS, AMS, RIMS, neutron activation analysis.

7) Automated and rapid analytical technique for radionuclides.

8) Techniques for speciation analysis of radionuclides

Pdfs of all the presentations made at this seminar can be downloaded here.

Organisers

Xiaolin Hou (xiho@risoe.dtu.dk)

Sven P. Nielsen (sven.nielsen@risoe.dk)

Jukka Letho (jukka.lehto@helsinki.fi)

Mats Jonsson (mats@kth.se)

Lindis Skipperud (lindis.skipperud@umb.no)

Ylva Ranebo (ylva.ranebo@med.lu.se)

NKS-B NordDSS workshop - Nordic workshop for users of Decision Support Systems (DSS)

Copenhagen, Denmark

1-2 October 2009

The aim of NordDSS workshop was to gather users of decision support systems (DSS) from the Nordic region, and jointly share information and knowledge on how these systems are used in the different emergency preparedness organisations. The workshop was organised by Norway (NRPA), Sweden (SSM), Finland (STUK) and Denmark (DEMA), and had 23 participants from 10 different countries.

The workshop was organised into three sessions. The first session was a Nordic session with presentations from the four organising countries followed by a plenary discussion. The second session was dedicated to international presentations on the use of DSS in Germany, Poland, Australia, Brazil and Canada. The last session looked at more in-depth use of DSS, and what can be expected from the systems in the future.

Pdfs of all the presentations made at this seminar can be downloaded here.

Contact persons:

Jan Erik Dyve, NRPA (Norway), jan.erik.dyve@nrpa.no, +47 67 16 26 48

Michael Ammann, STUK (Finland), michael.ammann@stuk.fi

Jonas Lindgren, SSM (Sweden), jonas.lindgren@ssm.se

Steen Hoe, DEMA (Denmark), hoe@beredskapsstyrelsen.dk

NKS-B GammaSem seminar - Nordic seminar for users of gamma spectrometry

Kjeller, Norway

16-17 September, 2009

Organised by the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Denmark; Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Icelandic Radiation Protection Institute, National Institute of Radiation Protection, Denmark

With 75 participants from 34 different institutes taking part, the GammaSem seminar provided a forum for discussions and sharing of information on practical issues concerning gamma spectrometry. The seminar covered topics based on the participants’ own experience in gamma spectrometry with an emphasis on common problems/challenges often encountered. The seminar was opened with a presentation by Dr. Gordon Gilmore entitled “Does our software tell us the truth (or should we burn the Black Box)?” aimed at encouraging users not to trust their spectrum analysis programs uncritically. At the conclusion of the seminar working groups were set up on the following topics:

Uncertainties and detections of limits

True summing coincidence

Monte Carlo simulations and efficiency transfer

Absorption (density corrections and geometries)

Mobile gamma spectrometry systems

Nuclear forensics (on special samples and special parts of the spectra)

Pdfs of all the presentations made at this seminar can be downloaded here.

The seminar webpage can be viewed here.

Contact persons:

Paula Nunez (paulan@ife.no)

Sven P. Nielsen (sven.nielsen@risoe.dk)

Sigurður Emil Pálsson (sep@gr.is)

Carsten Israelson (cis@sis.dk)

Seppo Klemola (seppo.klemola@stuk.fi) 

NKS-R and NKS-B Joint Summary Seminar

March 26th to 27th, 2009

NKS held a NKS-R and NKS-B Joint Summary Seminar at the Armémuseum in central Stockholm on March 26th to 27th, 2009. Over the course of the two days of the seminar around 40-50 participants heard presentations on the following NKS-R and NKS-B activities:

Pdfs of all the presentations made at this seminar can be downloaded here 

NKS-B NordThreat seminar - 30-31 October, 2008, Oslo/Asker, Norway

This emergency preparedness seminar was organised by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Finland; the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority and the Icelandic Radiation Protection Institute to highlight similarities and differences between national threat assessments. Attended by over 40 participants, speakers included Jane L. Smith-Briggs (Nuvia), Kasper G. Andersson (Risø), Heiki Reponen (STUK), Anne Stenersen (FFI), Ole Reistad (NRPA) and Per Strand (NRPA), with subjects ranging from the Andreeva Bay, dirty bombs in urban areas, radionuclear terrorism, Russian NPPs and nuclear-powered submarines. In addition George M. Moore from IAEA presented the IAEA Illicit Trafficking Data Base.

Changes in the international security environment and new threats have lead to an increased attention towards the need to revise various threat assessments in the Nordic countries. The seminar presented interested new topics, summarized experiences from previous incidents and new threat assessment from some of the Nordic countries.

The seminar facilitated an exchange of information and opinions and provided a platform for the discussion of possible new networks, especially between researchers and the emergency preparedness communities. The seminar will be summarised in an NKS-B report by the end of 2008.

Pdfs of all the presentations made at this seminar can be downloaded here. 

NKS-B Forest seminar 7-8 October, 2008, Helsinki, Finland

Four organisations from Norway (IFE), Sweden (FOI) and Finland (STUK, METLA) jointly organised an NKS-B seminar titled ‘Towards improved understanding of radionuclide transfer in forests and preparedness to handle contaminated forests’. The aim of the seminar was to provide a forum for exchange of information, discussion on future research needs and networking of experts on forestry, forest research, and radioecology of forests. On both days roughly 30 participants followed oral presentations under five thematic sessions:

Session 1:       Radioecology and forest research – basis for preparedness to manage contaminated forests

Session 2:       Management of forests contaminated by radionuclides

Session 3:       Sampling in forests

Session 4:       Environmental impact of final disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste

Session 5:       Recent and ongoing studies on radionculides in forests

To support future collaboration and contacts of experts working in related fields, a proposal of an informal forest network was launched in the seminar. The network was activated two weeks later by sending an invitation to the participants (contact address to active and new members: forestnetwork@stuk.fi). The seminar will be summarised in an NKS-B report by the end of 2008.

Seminar on Thermal stratification in Älvkarleby Sweden  

June 3 and 4, 2008

Contact person: Johan Westin

e-mail: Johan.Westin@vattenfall.com

Seminar on the results from RiskEval activity phase one  

April 25, 2008

One objective of the project is to establish a common view regarding evaluation of changes in Technical Specifications. Another objective is to utilize the Finnish experiences within the area of risk-informed analyses of the Technical Specification and try to make a coherent view of the Finnish and Swedish requirements within this subject.

Contact person: Ola Bäckström 

e-mail: ola.backstrom@relcon.se

Seminar on the results from the activity LingAn  

April 23, 2008

The project have analysed the syntax and semantics of selected existing NPP instructions by using research results from computational linguistics.

Contact person: Fred Karlsson 

e-mail: fgk@ling.helsinki.fi

NKS-B seminar on sampling and measurement

2nd half of January 2008
Sampling is an often neglected part of radioecological assessments, yet it is usually the main source of uncertainty.  As more laboratories are seeking accreditation it becomes more important to address this issue formally and this has been done internationally, e.g. in the new ICRU-75.  The measurement strategies and techniques have also been evolving.
Invited speakers include Ethel M. Scott (Univ. of Glasgow) + more to be announced
Contact person: Sigurður Emil Pálsson, programme manager, NKS-B
e-mail:  sep@gr.is 

NKS-B status seminar 2007 

August 28-29, 2007 Statens strålevern, Oslo, Norway
The aim of this seminar is to provide a forum where not only results of ongoing and concluded work within NKS-B can be presented, but also suggestions for work that could be undertaken within the NKS-B programme. The programme manager of NKS-R will give a presentation of the programme and ongoing work there.
The timing of the seminar was chosen to be good with respect to preparing proposals for work to be supported in 2008 (see above).  The seminar is intended to be a forum where new proposals can be discussed and project groups formed.
It may be possible to refund travel expenses for participants giving presentations at the seminar; this needs however to be negotiated with the
Programme Manager beforehand.
Please indicate as soon as possible if you would be interested in participating in the seminar
Contact person: Sigurður Emil Pálsson, programme manager, NKS-B
e-mail:  sep@gr.is

Miniseminarium med presentation och diskussion om utvärderingsrapporten, NKS-145, NKS-arbetet och dess resultat mellan åren 2002 och 2005
9. november 2006, SKI, Stockholm
Deltagare: styrelsen, utvärderare, programchefer, koordinator 

Kontaktperson: Torkel Bennerstedt
For detaljer: se her

NKS-B Summary Seminar (with focus on radioecology and measurement techniques)
October 24 - 25, 2005, Estonia,
Results of NKS-B work 2002 - 2005 will be presented and summarised at the seminar. The main focus will be on radioecology and measurement techniques, results obtained, current status and future plans. This will include e.g. reports on work in the projects INDOFERN (New Indicator Organisms for Environmental Radioactivity) and Labinco (Intercomparison of Laboratory Analyses of Radionuclides in Environmental Samples).

Contact person: Sigurður Emil Pálsson 

For details: see https://www.gr.is/nks-b/seminar2005/

NKS-B Seminar on Theory of Sampling (TOS)
August 26, 2005, Risø Denmark
Organised by Lund University, Sweden; Risø National Laboratory, Denmark and Institute for Energy Technology, Norway
Contact person: Elis Holm, (registration should be made no later than 30 June)

For details: see  https://www.gr.is/nks-b/sampstrat/

NKS-B CommTech Mini-Seminar
May 31 - June 1, 2005, SSI, Stockholm, Sweden

A mini-seminar on communication (technology) for nuclear and radiological emergency preparedness

Work under CommTech will be reported

Contact person: Sigurður Emil Pálsson, Programme Manager, NKS-B 
For details: see  https://www.gr.is/nks-b/commtech/

NKS-B Mini-Seminar on Malicious Use of Radioactive Material 

May 24 - 25, 2005, Stockholm, Sweden

Work under EMERAD: Emergency Management & Radiation Monitoring in Nuclear and Radiological Accidents will be reported.

Contact person: Robert R. Finck, SSI. 

For details: see https://www.gr.is/nks-b/mal-use