Generation IV initiative: Safety and reliability goals and related R&D

To advance nuclear energy to meet future energy needs, ten countries have agreed to launch the development of a next generation of nuclear energy systems known as "Generation IV." These countries have joined together to form the Generation IV International Forum (GIF). The retained systems would be licensed, constructed, and operated before the year 2030 in a manner that will provide competitively priced and reliable energy products, while satisfactorily addressing nuclear safety, waste, proliferation and public perception concerns. To practically structure this initiative, the GIF agreed to support the preparation of a roadmap where few systems - the most representative of this Gen IV - will be selected and the corresponding R&D tasks detailed and organized for an international shared effort. The whole roadmap project is managed by a Roadmap Integration Team. The structure also comprises an Evaluation Methodology Group (EMG), four Technical Working Groups (TWG) for the different technologies and five Crosscut Groups (CGs) covering areas as fuels and cycles, economics, risk and safety, fuels and materials, and energy products. Since the beginning of the project, a set of consistent goals has been defined on Sustainability, Safety and Reliability, and Economics. The paper summarizes and discusses the Safety and Reliability goals, as well as the criteria and metrics that have been developed to be used for the practical systems screening and evaluation. The role of the Risk and Safety Crosscut Group (RSCG) is presented; it focuses on the risk and safety aspects of the concept evaluation and corresponding cross-cut R&D areas. Finally a preliminary overview of the R&D items considered as guidelines for the search of the crosscut themes for the Gen IV effort is given.