International Conference on Opportunities and Challenges for Water Cooled Reactors in the 21st Century, October 27-30 2009, Vienna

Water Cooled Reactors have been the keystone of the nuclear industry in the 20th century. As we move into the 21st century and face new challenges, such as the threat of climate change and the large growth in world energy demand, nuclear energy has been singled out as one of the sources that could substantially and sustainably contribute to power the world. As the nuclear community worldwide looks into the future with the development of advanced and innovative reactor designs and fuel cycles, it becomes important to explore the role Water Cooled Reactors will play in this future.

Objectives

The objectives of the International Conference on Opportunities and Challenges for Water Cooled Reactors in the 21st century are to:

• Explore the status and trends in the development of advanced water cooled reactor designs, both for electrical and non-electrical applications.
• Provide a forum for the exchange of information among those interested in the introduction or expansion of nuclear power programmes in the 21st century, taking into account the desire to build capacity in terms of human resources, energy planning, regulatory capabilities and other infrastructure.
• Discuss the trends in nuclear design and safety and their anticipated impact on the required capabilities of operating, regulatory and technical support organizations, as well as in safety, reliability and performance improvements.
• Examine the role of operation and maintenance optimization programmes in assuring safe and reliable nuclear power plant operations.
• Explore the future role of water cooled reactors, by themselves and as a bridge towards the use of innovative nuclear reactors designs and fuel cycles.

The conference is geared to senior policy-makers and government officials, decision-makers in climate change policy, energy planning and finance, managers and technical experts from nuclear design and research organizations, as well as operating organizations.

Technical session

The conference will include technical sessions where contributed papers will present the current state of knowledge in a large variety of topics. Experts from all over the world are encouraged to submit papers in the following topics

• Topic 1: Lessons Learned from the Safety and Performance Achievement in Existing Water Cooled Reactors
• Topic 2: Design and Construction of Advanced Water Cooled Reactors
• Topic 3: Innovative and Advanced Applications of Water Cooled Reactors
• Topic 4: Challenges and Opportunities to Launch New Nuclear Power Programmes

Key deadlines:

• 14 April 2009 : Submission of Extended Synopsis (Electronic Version - 800 words)
• 15 July 2009 : Notification of paper acceptance
• 14 August 2009 : Submission of Full papers

Conference Web Page:

All the most up-to-date information about the conference will be posted in the conference web site: http://wwwpub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Announcements.asp?ConfID=164

Contact: S.Bilbao@iaea.org, O.Glockler@iaea.org, K.Kang@iaea.org.