Background and importance:
Since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1FNPP) accident in 2011 affected people and the environment worldwide in both countries that have and have not operated Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) and Nuclear Research Reactors (NRRs), the awareness of nuclear safety was significantly interested in many countries around the world including ASEAN countries. Even though ASEAN countries have never experienced operating NPPs, they always have active progress related to nuclear reactor technology. Moreover, half of the ASEAN countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam still have well a lot of experience, researchers, engineers, and staff for long-time of their NRRs operations. Thereby, currently, ASEAN countries hold multi-disciplines of the nuclear safety research of NPPs and NRRs on Deterministic Safety Assessment (DSA) and Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA).
Due to the strong collaboration of the ASEAN countries to together realize the importance and advancement of nuclear safety research in the long term, ASEAN researchers and engineers in diverse nuclear safety fields gathered to organize ASEAN Network on Nuclear Power Safety Research (ASEAN NPSR) first time in the kick-off meeting of ASEAN NPSR in 2017, Bangkok, Thailand. Currently, ASEAN NPSR consists of nine ASEAN Member States (MSs) namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The goal of the network is to strengthen research and development (R&D), human resource development, and regional cooperation in the field of nuclear safety of both NPP and NRR in the ASEAN region.
According to the 4th Virtual Annual Meeting of ASEAN NPSR in Singapore in 2021, in the partial session on collaborative research extension, ASEAN MSs discussed the risk assessment theme covering Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) and Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) on NRRs. Due to the information and guidance of the Periodic Safety Review (PSR) report of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and their own ASEAN MSs’ regulation, most of NRRs’ owners have experienced the PSA and HRA implementation. Not only the knowledge of PSA and HRA on NRRs in ASEAN will be shared, developed, and conformed, but these PSA and HRA knowledge bases are also expected as crucial knowledge for applying to NPPs’ projects in the ASEAN region in the future.
To satisfy ASEAN NPSR’s goal and the collaborative PSA and HRA research initiative on NRRs in ASEAN regions, Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) and Malaysia Nuclear Agency (NUCLEAR MALAYSIA) on behalf of ASEAN NPSR MSs decided to organize the “the 1st Joint TINT – NUCLEAR MALAYSIA ASEAN NPSR Technical Meeting on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Human Reliability Analysis on Nuclear Research Reactor in ASEAN region” on July 18-20, 2023, Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand (hereinafter referred to as “the event”).
Objective: This event’s objective is;
- To share the experiences on PSA and HRA research on NRRs to ASEAN NPSR MSs,
- To discuss the collaborative research scope interest between participants,
- To determine the direction and timeline of the PSA and HRA research together,
- To increase an opportunity to enlarge the work of ASEAN NPSR for new participants who are interested in PSA and HRA research areas.
The event will cover the following topics:
- Application of NPPs’ risk assessment tool to PSA and HRA research on NRRs,
- Experiences in PSA and HRA research on NRRs of ASEAN NPSR MSs,
- Best practice from PSA and HRA experts from the nuclear technology owners’ countries.
Expected Outputs:
- ASEAN regional research activities, training and workshops, technical meetings, and academic conferences on PSA and HRA of NRRs for ASEAN NPSR MSs in the long term,
- Strong research network for gathering knowledge on PSA and HRA research on NRRs to prepare for the eras of NPPs in ASEAN regions in the future,
- Potential research network to support human resource development in PSA and HRA fields in ASEAN regions,
- Opportunity for together pursuing international research project funds at higher levels.
The 1st Joint TINT – ANM ASEAN NPSR Workshop and Forum on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Human Reliability Analysis on Nuclear Research Reactor in ASEAN region (Bangkok, Thailand July 2023 Coming Soon)