History of ERMSAR
In the framework of FP6 and FP7 EU Research and Development Framework Programmes, the SARNET network of excellence was launched in 2004 and co-funded until mid-2013. The aim of this network was to better coordinate the national efforts in Europe in the severe accident (SA) area and to resolve the remaining main open issues for enhancing the safety of existing and future European NPPs.
In mid-2013, SARNET was fully integrated in the NUGENIA Technical Area N°2 (TA2), “Severe Accidents”, (from 2019 in the framework of the SNETP Association) emphasizing the search for more efficient and innovative mitigation measures, which has mostly been the focused of research since the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
Among the major activities conducted by NUGENIA/TA2, the periodic organization of topical conferences, European Review Meeting on Severe Accident Research (ERMSAR), has ever been a flagship. The first three ERMSAR Conferences have been held during FP6 framework in 2005 at Aix-en-Provence (F), 2007 in Karlsruhe (D) and in 2008 at Nesseber (BG) as internal exchange forum while, at the beginning of the FP7 period, the 4th Conference was hosted by ENEA in Bologna (I) in May 2010, gathering 98 participants from 23 nations (8 non-EU countries).
The successive 5th ERMSAR conference was the first one open to the international community, hosted by GRS in Cologne (D) in March 2012 and gathering 157 participants (42 non-SARNET partners) from 60 organizations and 27 countries. The objective of this open seminar was to present the recent progress of international knowledge on SAs. It was also an opportunity to discuss how the feedback of the Fukushima accidents could be taken into account in planning the new research needs.
The 6th ERMSAR, held six months after the end of the FP7 SARNET project, was hosted by IRSN in Avignon (F) on October 2013, gathering 137 participants from 25 countries and 61 organizations, representing the cornerstone between 8 years of SARNET projects and the future linked to the NUGENIA association. The main objective was to present syntheses in the different issues of SAs and perspectives of new R&D in the next years.
The 7th ERMSAR conference was hosted by the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) in Marseille (F) from 24 to 26 March 2015, the first one to be organized under the auspices of NUGENIA. It gathered 165 participants from 54 organizations and 21 countries (including, out of Europe, Japan, Russia, USA and Korea), confirming its status as a leading international event on major nuclear reactor accidents, status confirmed by the following editions:
The 8th ERMSAR 2017, hosted by the Polish National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) organization in Warsaw (PL) from 16 to 18 May 2017, with 179 participants from 27 countries and 84 organizations (25% of participants came from out of Europe).
The 9th ERMSAR 2019, hosted by the ÚJV Řež in Prague (CZ) from 18 to 20 March 2019, gathering 163 participants from 23 countries and 73 organizations (19% of participants came from out of Europe).
The 10th ERMSAR 2022, hosted by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Germany from 16-19 May 2022. Due to the Covid pandemic affecting the world and limiting international travels, the participation in the conference was not possible for everyone, yet the ERMSAR 2022 gathered 120 participants from around the world.