Reactor Safety Commission carries out safety review of research reactors

In connection with measures carried out following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant on 11 March 2011, the Reactor Safety Commission (RSK), working on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and applying an approach similar to that used for the safety review of power reactors, has performed a review of the robustness of research reactors in Germany. This review, which was concluded on 3 May 2012 with the Commission's statement, covers research reactors with a continuous thermal power of more than 50 kW. Specifically, this includes the TRIGA Mark II research reactor in Mainz (FRMZ), the BER-II experimental reactor in Berlin and the Heinz Maier Leibnitz research neutron source (FRM II) in Garching (near Munich).

In an approach similar to that applied to Germany's power reactors, the RSK assessed the research reactors' robustness by defining assessment criteria for the robustness levels and the degrees of protection for the reactors. The installations' robustness was reviewed with regard to

• natural hazards (such as earthquakes, floods),
• expanded postulated events (such as station blackouts, emergency power failures),
• emergency preparedness,
• accident management and
• man-made hazards (such as airplane crash, gas release).

The RSK attested the three installations to be highly robust with regard to external flooding events, even under extreme conditions, due to the conditions prevailing at their sites and to their designs. Furthermore, the Commission determined that even failures of their external power supply would not endanger the installations' vital safety functions.

For further specific topics of the robustness review of the research reactors and under consideration of the significantly reduced risk potential compared to power reactors, there are differentiated assessments with plant-specific recommendations.

• RSK statement: Plant-specific safety review (RSK-SÜ) of German research reactors in the light of the events in Fukushima-I (Japan) (German, PDF, external, 334 KB)