SAMOSAFER: Bringing nuclear safety to the next level

Jan Leen Kloosterman
coördinator SAMOSAFER, TU Delft

In the European Energy Roadmap 2050, nuclear energy is an important contributor to the decarbonisation of our electricity supply. In the long term nuclear energy will transition to Gen-IV reactors with better performance in the fields of sustainability, safety, security, economy, and non-proliferation. The EU expects that a few more decades are needed before Gen-IV reactors can penetrate the energy market at large scale, while in the meantime the nuclear safety requirements will be more stringent than current regulation.

The SAMOSAFER project focuses on new simulation models and tools validated with experiments, and on new safety barriers for the Molten Salt (Fast) Reactor (MSR) to meet these future safety requirements. The grand objective is to ensure that the MSR can comply with all expected regulations in 30 years’ time.

After successful completion of the project, the simulation models and tools can be used by the nuclear industry, and the innovative safety barriers can be implemented in new MSR designs and other Gen-IV reactors.

Cooperation of leading institutes in Europe and beyond

SAMOSAFER — Simulation Models and Safety Assessment of Fluid–fuel Energy Reactors — is a 4.5M€ project of the European Union research and innovation programme Horizon 2020. The consortium consists of 14 partners exploiting each other’s unique expertise and infrastructure in this 4–year research programme starting on October 1, 2019.

Besides the EU efforts in SAMOSAFER, the consortium tightly connects with other leading universities, institutions and companies in China, Russia, the US and others to exchange information, and to coordinate and share resources.

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