抄録
51 organizations network in SARNET (S__-evere A__-ccident R__-esearch <NET>___-work of Excellence) their capacities of research in order to resolve the most important remaining uncertainties for enhancing, in regard of Severe Accidents (SA), the safety of existing and future Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). This project, co-funded by the European Commission (EC), has been defined in order to optimise the use of the available means and to constitute sustainable research groups in the European Union. SARNET tackles the fragmentation that exists between the different R&D national programmes, in defining common research programmes and developing common computer tools and methodologies for safety assessment. SARNET comprises most of the actors involved in SA research in Europe (plus Canada). To reach these objectives, all the organizations networked in SARNET contribute to a so-called Joint Programme of Activities (JPA), which consists in: ・Implementing an advanced communication tool for accessing all project information, fostering exchange of information, and managing documents; ・Harmonizing and re-orienting the research programmes; ・Jointly analysing the experimental results provided by research programmes in order to elaborate a common understanding of relevant phenomena; ・Developing the ASTEC code (integral computer code used to predict the NPP behaviour during a postulated SA), which capitalizes in terms of physical models the knowledge produced within SARNET; ・Developing Scientific Databases, in which all the results of research programmes are stored in a common format (DATANET); ・Developing a common methodology for Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of NPPs; ・Developing courses and writing a text book on SA for students and researchers; ・Promoting personnel mobility between various European organizations. After the first period (2004-2008), co-funded by the EC, the network will progressively evolve toward self-sustainability. The bases for such an evolution, still under discussion, are presented in the last part of the paper.
