Horizon Euratom: Nuclear Safety & Long-Term Operation

Safety research for nuclear power plants and research reactors already operating or planned across the EU, centred on ageing management and long-term operation (LTO). Funded work develops and validates tools to assess and extend safety margins as reactors age — digital twins, multi-physics and multiscale modelling and simulation, AI/ML-assisted defect detection, and updated probabilistic safety assessments — alongside materials testing and structural-integrity methods that quantify degradation in pressure boundary components, concrete structures, fuel and cladding. It also covers assessing internal and external hazards, and the safety case for switching Soviet-designed research reactors onto alternative nuclear fuel where the normal supply is at risk.