Excellence Spreading Programme in SARNET Network on Severe Accidents

SARNET is the Severe Accident Research NETwork of Excellence federating European research on severe accidents (SA) in nuclear power plants. The network has been set up under the aegis of EC Framework Programmes (FP) to perform R&D on SA in water-cooled NPPs with two projects, both coordinated by IRSN (F), in the FP6 (2004-08) and FP7 (2009-13). The aim was to better coordinate the national efforts, optimising the use of experimental facilities and available expertise. SARNET was a success, with the sustainable integration of European SA research capacities and significant research achievements. Since mid-2013, SARNET continues as a network fully integrated in the NUGENIA Technical Area N°2 (TA2), named “Severe accidents” and still coordinated by IRSN. A reorientation from pure knowledge-based R&D towards R&D for prevention and mitigation of SA consequences has been confirmed.