idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
The large number of representative projects described in the GRS Annual Report 2006/2007 is evidence that GRS has again fully committed itself to maintaining and further developing nuclear safety in Germany and increasingly also in other countries and thereby has fulfilled its duty to society in a highly responsible manner. GRS is Germany's central technical expert organisation in the field of nuclear safety.
Nuclear safety is an interdisciplinary task that can only be tackled effectively by international co-operation. GRS therefore collaborates with a wide range of international partners and maintains close ties with various foreign organisations. This commitment is manifested in many bilateral co-operation agreements and in the participation in numerous activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the European Union.
Furthermore, as early as in 1999, GRS and its French partner IRSN (Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire) made a decisive move by starting the "EUROSAFE Approach". In the meantime, this approach has developed into a European initiative with the aim to harmonise technical safety practices in Europe. It comprises the annual EUROSAFE Forum for Nuclear Safety, a technical journal entitled EUROSAFE Tribune, and the EUROSAFE website. In May 2006, a further pillar was added with the founding of the "European Technical Safety Organisations Network" (ETSON), consisting of GRS, IRSN and Bel V (formerly AVN, Belgium). An expansion of the Network by the Finnish and Czech Technical Safety Organisations is imminent.
The 'Reactor Safety' field of work comprises safety-orientated research and development for nuclear power plants as well as studies into current safety-related issues. This also includes the development of models that can be used to simulate processes inside the reactor core.
A special strength of GRS is its ability to combine research results with insights gained from operating experience. One focus of the activities is on the selective processing and evaluation of operating experiences with generic safety significance and on the derivation of recommendations for safety improvements.
Issues relating to human and organisational safety aspects as well as to the interaction of man, technology and organisation have lately been gaining more and more importance. In this area, too, GRS has made valuable contributions.
The main issues of the 'Waste Management and Radiation Protection' field of work are i. a. research and development concerning the safety of repositories for radioactive waste, laboratory-scale experiments for the development of geotechnical models for repository formations, and radiation exposure upon the transport of radioactive materials.
Other ongoing major tasks are the "Updating of the German nuclear non-mandatory guidance instruments" and the long-term project "G8 Global Partnership - Physical Protection".
To secure the company's future, GRS uses instruments of knowledge management and competence preservation to counter effectively the loss of know-how brought about by the retirement of many experts. The measures taken so far have already shown their effects: GRS is well on course in stabilising and even expanding its human resources, thereby making sure that its competence is maintained.
The German/English Annual Report has 252 pages. It can be ordered from Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) mbH, Stabsabteilung Kommunikation, Postfach 10 15 64, 50455 Köln. It is also available for download at www.grs.de.
Company information
GRS has around 400 staff, achieving a turnover of approx. EUR 50m per year. The company is non-profit-making and has its headquarters in Cologne. Other locations are Garching near Munich, Braunschweig, and Berlin.
The main customers of GRS are the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), the Federal Foreign Office (AA), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), regional Länder authorities and the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA). The most important foreign customer is the European Commission.
The shareholders of GRS are the Federal Republic of Germany (46%), the Free State of Bavaria (4%), the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia (4%), and the Technical Inspection Organisations (TÜV) and Germanischer Lloyd (together 46 %).
http://www.grs.de
http://www.eurosafe-forum.org
Criteria of this press release:
Electrical engineering, Energy, Environment / ecology, Materials sciences, Mechanical engineering
transregional, national
Research projects, Research results
English
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