Nuclear activities of the Joint Research CentreNuclear activities of the Joint Research Centre Euratom Research & Training Programme Interim evaluation ... JRC activities support the

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE

FACTS & FIGURES

Nuclear activities of the Joint Research Centre

Euratom Research & Training Programme

Interim evaluation

October 2016 (Rev 1)

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Contents

1. INTRODUCTION TO JRC ......................................................................................... 3

1.1 Vision, mission and values ................................................................................ 3

1.2 Partners and Stakeholders .................................................................................. 3

1.3 Organisational structure ..................................................................................... 4

1.4 Governance and management ............................................................................ 5

1.5 Strategy and work programme orientation ........................................................ 6

1.6 Work programme and internal evaluation ......................................................... 7

1.7 Quality Management ......................................................................................... 8

2. JRC NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES: THE PROGRAMME ............................................... 9

2.1 General background ........................................................................................... 9

2.2 From the framework programme to the JRC work programme ........................ 9

2.3 The nuclear work programme of the JRC.......................................................... 9

3. JRC IN FIGURES. PERIOD 2014-2016 ................................................................... 11

3.1 The budget ....................................................................................................... 11

3.2 The staff ........................................................................................................... 12

4. NUCLEAR RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE ...................................................... 14

5. EURATOM LEGAL AND POLICY BASIS ............................................................ 16

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1. INTRODUCTION TO JRC

The Joint Research Centre is the European Commission's science and knowledge service. It employs scientist and technicians with the objective of carrying out research in order to provide independent and neutral scientific advice and support to EU policies. Following the mandate of the Euratom Treaty1, for over 50 years, the JRC has been conducting direct research and training in the nuclear field in complement and full alignment with the efforts of the Member States in the field. JRC activities support the need for nuclear safety, security research and cross-cutting activities, in order to ensure that top-level competence and expertise are available in the EU.

The JRC's current nuclear work is defined by the EURATOM Research and Training Programme 2014-20182, whose general objective is to pursue nuclear research and training activities with an emphasis on continuous improvement of nuclear safety, security and radiation protection, notably to potentially contribute to the long-term decarbonisation of the energy system in a safe, efficient and secure way.

1.1 Vision, mission and values

The Vision: To play a central role in creating, managing and making sense of collective scientific knowledge for better EU policies.

The Mission: As the scientific and knowledge service of the Commission our mission is to support EU policies with independent evidence throughout the whole policy cycle.

Values: The reputation of JRC is built on the quality of its research and on the intellectual rigour with which scientific evidence is prepared and presented. Independence, objectivity and transparency are crucial for the trustworthiness of the JRC's research work. Proper conduct of research requires high standards of integrity based upon principles and professional responsibilities among staff.

1.2 Partners and Stakeholders

The JRC collaborates with a broad range of organisations and stakeholders worldwide, mainly in the public domain.

• Primary beneficiaries of JRC nuclear research and training programme are the Member States. The JRC complements the EU MSs activities and provides support through collaboration with national research organisations, universities, regulatory authorities and national or regional authorities.

• Other partners are the Directorates-General of the European Commission. JRC collaborates and provides scientific support and advice in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of various Community policies. Examples are the JRC support to DG ENER in the implementation of the European safeguards system3, Nuclear Safety Directive, Nuclear Waste

1 EURATOM treaty, Treaty Establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM Treaty) (2012/C

327/01) 2 Council regulation (EURATOM) No 1314/2013 of 16/12/2013 on the Research and Training Programme of the

European Atomic Energy Community (2014-2018) complementing the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme 3 COMMISSION REGULATION (Euratom) No 302/2005 on the application of Euratom safeguards

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Directive, shipment directive or Basic Safety Standards Directive or to DG DEVCO in the implementation of the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation4 and Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace5; and to DG HOME in the implementation of the CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) action plan6 or DG TAXUD on the regime of export control of dual use goods7. The EU Council and the European Parliament also benefit from the JRC’s work.

• The JRC also carries out work for, or in cooperation with many international organisations and partners such as IAEA, OECD-NEA, UNICRI, US-DoE, JAEA, Canada, and others.

• Euratom is a signatory of GIF and the JRC is its implementing agent. The JRC is therefore coordinating Euratom’s technical and scientific contribution to Generation IV, which can stem from JRC direct actions, DG RTD funded indirect actions and by EU Member States direct contribution. (Euratom is also financing its part of the GIF secretariat which is based at the OECD/NEA, Paris.)

1.3 Organisational structure

During the period object of evaluation, the JRC was constituted by seven Institutes located in five different sites. The Euratom work programme was coordinated from the JRC Headquarters in Brussels, and implemented in the three following Institutes:

Institute for Energy and Transport in Petten (the Netherlands), Institute for Transuranium Elements (Karlsruhe – Germany and Ispra – Italy), and Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (Geel, Belgium).

On July 1st, 2016, the JRC underwent an in-depth reorganisation in order to better implement the new JRC 2030 Strategy, to align the JRC with the EU priorities and enhancing the role of JRC not only as knowledge producer but also a knowledge manager. The strategy covers also aspect of governance and organisation aiming at increasing the collaboration and enhancing the efficiency. Under the new organisation, a single Directorate (Directorate G) is entrusted to implement the nuclear work programme which is also responsible for the Decommissioning of the JRC nuclear liabilities; a support unit, for JRC Sites Radioprotection and security is assigned to the Directorate. The Euratom coordination unit in Directorate A, Strategy and Work Programme coordinates the overall JRC Euratom related activities, and takes care of relations with stakeholders, coordinate the R&D Euratom agreements with international partners and organisations and acts as the Euratom implementing agent for the generation IV international forum.

Since first of July 2016, the work programme execution is performed in three Departments and two horizontal units:

4 COUNCIL REGULATION (EURATOM) No 237/2014 establishing an Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation

5 REGULATION (EU) No 230/2014 establishing an instrument contributing to stability and peace

6 COM(2009) 273 final COMMUNICATION on Strengthening Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Security

in the European Union – an EU CBRN Action Plan 7

Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items

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Department of Nuclear Safety

Nuclear Fuel Safety Unit

Unit for Standards for nuclear safety, security & safeguards

Unit for Knowledge for nuclear safety, security & safeguards

Nuclear reactor safety & emergency preparedness Unit

Advanced nuclear knowledge Unit

Department of Nuclear Security & Safeguards

Nuclear safeguards & forensics Unit

Nuclear security Unit

Department of Nuclear decommissioning

Waste management Unit

JRC nuclear decommissioning Unit(operational)

The support Directorate (Resources) has one unit located in Karlsruhe providing the necessary resources management, both financial and human, to achieve the work programme execution.

1.4 Governance and management

In 1996 the Commission reorganised the JRC through Decision 96/282 and revised relations with the Member States and the role of the Board of Governors. As an official organ of the JRC the Board is composed of high level representatives of the Member States and associated countries and plays an important role in the governance structure of the organisation. The Board of Governors assist the Director General and deliver opinions for submission to the Commission on questions relating to the role of the JRC within the Community research and development strategy, the scientific and financial management of the JRC and the performance of the tasks entrusted to it.

Following the recommendation received, an internal structure to guide, examine and monitor the evolution of the Euratom Work programme, facilitating the JRC's decision making, called Joint Euratom Steering Committee (JESC), was established in 2014.

The JESC was chaired by the JRC Director General, and composed of the Directors of the 3 former Institutes performing nuclear research, as well as the Director of the Directorate for Policy coordination and the Head of the Unit for Nuclear Safety and Security (renamed Euratom coordination unit). The role of the JECS was enhance the JRC governance related to the implementation of Euratom programme by providing guidance on resources and priorities, to address arising issues and to monitor the implementation of the JRC Euratom Work Programme. The JESC strengthened a corporate approach in the Euratom part of the JRC programme and enhanced collaboration between the “nuclear institutes”. The JESC met at least every 6 months.

Since July 2016, after the JRC reorganisation entered into force, the implementation of nuclear activities is responsibility of Directorate G, Nuclear Safety and Security, who is in close contact with Dir. A through the Euratom coordination unit, responsible of defining the strategy and the work programme coordination. Therefore, the JESC is not considered anymore necessary and therefore its activity was discontinued.

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The Commission Decisions of April 19968 requires that the JRC set up a Scientific Committee "to assist the Director General". The JRC's Scientific Committee is a consultative body that supports the Director General of the JRC by helping to ensure that the JRC achieves its mission, and in particular achieves scientific excellence, and on that basis maximises its scientific and technical support to European Union policy. To fulfil its obligations, the Scientific Committee: supports the JRC's 2030 strategy, provides advice on scientific knowledge management, promotes the JRC's scientific integrity and ethics and scientific excellence, supports the JRC's education and training strategy and other related tasks.

Besides these initiatives, to foster coordination within the Euratom JRC work programme, an informal structure of clusters of work packages was organised with the aim of sharing knowledge, best practices, etc. The clusters that group JRC nuclear projects in 7 domains (as explained below) contributed to a JRC-wide more coherent approach in project/programme definition, execution, monitoring and evaluation.

1.5 Strategy and work programme orientation

JRC nuclear activities must fulfil the objectives and scope of the Euratom Research and Training Programme (2014-2018). To ensure that JRC’s nuclear research and training activities are in line with and complement the research and training needs of EU Member States, and to identify the critical areas were the JRC activities are relevant and have a European dimension, JRC belongs to the appropriate fora and has established a strategy of concluding agreements with key stakeholders.

In this respect, JRC is member of the Technology platforms Sustainable Nuclear Energy-TP (governing board and executive committee) and its pillars: NUGENIA, Nuclear GENeration II & III Association (honorary member and secretariat), ESNII, European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative and NC2I, Nuclear Cogeneration Industrial Initiative. JRC is also member of the European Nuclear Education Network association by concluding a MoU. JRC contributes also to the work of ENSREG.

To improve the collaboration with Member States Institutions, building partnerships and to align our programme with the MSs needs, agreements with several research, scientific and technical Institutions from Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Spain, France, Hungary, and the Netherlands are concluded.

JRC has also ongoing agreements with Institutions from US, Japan, Canada, China, which contribute to the global dimension of the nuclear research.

JRC has developed strong cooperation with International Organisations, such as IAEA and OECD/NEA, and participates in widely recognised international conferences or meetings on nuclear safety, nuclear security, nuclear safeguards, standardisation, knowledge management, and education and training.

The interaction with the Euratom Scientific and Technical Committee (STC) has been further increased. JRC hosts every year one of the STC plenary meetings in its sites. The last meeting was

8 Commission Decision of 10 April 1996 on the reorganisation of the Joint Research Centre (96/282/Euratom)

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in Ispra with the participation of the JRC director General. Thanks to this close cooperation, STC have sent several questions to the JRC not only on the implementation of Euratom programme but also on the future of nuclear R&D in Europe. The JRC Director General has provided STC detailed answers.

JRC is also aware of the Euratom Community policy developments by attending regularly the Atomic Questions Working Party of the Council.

1.6 Work programme and internal evaluation

Organisation and evolution of the work programme

With the aim of increasing the transparency of the JRC work programme, in the definition of more concrete objectives and deliverables, and in the attribution of resources, the FP7 structure based on a small number of big “actions” was changed. In 2014 the programme was organised in 144 units of work called “work packages”. These work packages followed a series of criteria regarding size, duration, and other administrative requirements. Links between the work packages were identified and indicated in each of them to ensure coordination. The work packages constitute then a rolling two-year work programme which is updated annually, as explained further below.

For a better understanding of the Euratom part of the JRC work programme, and to improve the cooperation among work packages, they were grouped in 2015 in seven clusters (Nuclear Emergency Preparedness & response, Radioactive Waste Management & Decommissioning, Nuclear Safeguards and non-proliferation, CBRN Security, Safety of Generation II and III nuclear reactors, Safety of Generation IV nuclear reactors, Nuclear Knowledge Management, Education, Training & Infrastructure), which allow interchange information and share experiences among work-packages of the same cluster, being a useful tool without imposing yet an additional formal structure to the programme.

Ex-ante assessment of the bi-annual work programme

To improve the alignment with the arising needs and to prioritise the activities, an ex-ante evaluation of the programme was organised in 2015, for the planning of the 2016-2017, the evaluation was also continued for the 2017-2018 work programme. To show more clearly the connection between work packages, allowing the evaluation and to ease the management of the programme, the work packages have been organised in projects grouping together work-packages towards higher level objectives and impact, which are more clearly defined and understood.

The ex-ante assessment programme exercise allows the Director General together with the Deputy Director Generals and Directors (grouped as "Directoire") to carry on discussions on the content, priorities, means, staff, etc…, of the work programme for taking decisions during the planning phase. The Euratom programme was evaluated as a single entity.

After the modifications requested by the Directoire review based on this assessment are implemented, the approved final draft of the programme is sent to the JRC Board of Governors for opinion. At the end of the process, a European internal Interservice Consultation is launched for comments/approval by the other Commission Services. A final review takes care of these opinion and comments before the adoption of the programme by the Commission.

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It should be noted that prior to the Interservice consultation procedure, the Euratom work programme is presented to the relevant Commission services for informal discussion.

Productivity and Impact Review

Since the beginning of the sixth framework programme (FP6), the JRC introduced a corporate-wide yearly review, nowadays called JRC Productivity and Impact review (PRIME).

The exercise assesses the productivity as a first aspect, in terms of policy support outputs and scientific publications in ISI peer-review journals, as well as patents and software declarations. The second aspect evaluated is the policy support impact which the outputs resulted, analysed against a predefined generic set of impact indicators. PRIME provides a traceable internal assessment on the strengths and weaknesses of the JRC scientific activities on a yearly basis.

1.7 Quality Management

The new JRC vision "To plan a central role in creating, managing and making sense of collective scientific knowledge for better EU policies" makes it clear that JRC's goals is to deliver consistent and high-quality results. In order to ensure these needs and also a continual improvement, a quality management system was put in place over the past years throughout the whole JRC. The external certifications and accreditations (ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 17025, etc.), letting JRC being recognised as a reliable partner, are sometime necessary, but also beneficial when cooperating with partners over the whole world.

Besides quality management system, the JRC implements a number of other management systems due to either Commission level commitments (e.g. EMAS) or based on the interested parties requests (e.g. ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001). The main driver is in every case to be a reliable partner and to ensure a continuous improvement

As it is stated in its Values: "The reputation of JRC is built on the quality of its research and on the intellectual rigour with which scientific evidence is prepared and presented". At the same time the JRC is committed to maintaining a high level of safety and security on its premises.

Regarding scientific integrity, the recently approved JRC Strategy 2030, develops further the JRC approach and the principles and responsibilities supporting it: Excellence and honesty, objectivity, accountability, independence and impartiality and inclusiveness and openness.

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2. JRC nuclear activities: the programme

2.1 General background

The nuclear activities of the JRC aim at satisfying the R & D obligations of the Euratom Treaty and supporting both Commission and Member States in the field of safeguards and non-proliferation, waste management, safety of nuclear installations and fuel cycle, radioactivity in the environment and radiation protection. In terms of resources, the nuclear activities of the JRC account for 29 % of the JRC Research budget and 21 % of the research staff

The JRC nuclear activities are carried out in four different sites:

Karlsruhe (D): 48 % of the JRC EURATOM research programme

Petten (NL): 17% of the JRC EURATOM research programme

Geel (B): 18% of the JRC EURATOM research programme

Ispra(I): 17% of the JRC EURATOM research programme

The site of Karlsruhe carries on 100% nuclear research. In the sites of Geel (around 30%) and Petten (around 20 %) the research performed is both nuclear and non-nuclear fields. The Ispra site is a research centre where one nuclear unit is located. Outside the research programme, the JRC is undergoing decommissioning activities in its nuclear research sites, as per the JRC Decommissioning and Radioactive Waste Management Programme, established in 1999. The programme is implemented by the nuclear decommissioning unit.

2.2 From the framework programme to the JRC work programme

The JRC carries out the majority of its activities as “direct actions” under the EC Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020)9 and the Euratom Framework Programme for Research and Training10, with the budget provided to it for those purposes. These framework programmes provide the highest level of definition of the non-nuclear and the nuclear activities of the JRC.

Based on these high level framework programmes, JRC, taking into account the priorities established in the Commission Work Programme, prepares its Multi-annual work programme (MAWP) for a period of two years, although revised every year. The JRC's MAWP is formally adopted through a Commission Implementing Decision11, including as an annex the Key Orientations for the JRC Work Programme12

2.3 The nuclear work programme of the JRC

As already explained in the point 1.6, several conceptual changes in the work programme internal organisation took place during the period; nevertheless, the constant of the programme are the research themes.

9 REGULATION (EU) No 1291/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 December 2013

10 COUNCIL REGULATION (EURATOM) No 1314/2013 of 16 December 2013

11 C(2015) 784 final COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 19.2.2015

12 C(2013) 8637 final ANNEX 1 Key Orientations for the Multi-Annual JRC Work Programme 2014 – 2015 and

C(2016) 730 final ANNEX 1 Key orientations for the JRC’s multi-annual work programme for 2016-17

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The activities carried out at the JRC, during the period 2014-2016, related to the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community, have been organised in the following themes to be presented coherently and consistently.

1. Nuclear safety 1.1. Nuclear reactor safety, 1.2. Safety of nuclear fuels and fuel cycle,

1.2.a. Conventional nuclear fuels 1.2.b. Innovative nuclear fuels and fuel cycles

1.3. Radioactive waste management, 1.4. Nuclear Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R) 1.5. Environmental monitoring & radiation protection)

2. Nuclear security 2.1. Nuclear safeguards 2.2. Non-proliferation 2.3. Nuclear security and prevention of CBRN hazards)

3. Standards for Nuclear (Safety, Security and Safeguards), 4. Knowledge management, training and education 5. Non-energy applications of radionuclides and technologies

The themes "Standards for Nuclear" and "Knowledge management, training and education" are horizontal to the entire JRC work programme.

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3. JRC in figures. Period 2014-2016

This chapter provides general data on the JRC’s financial and staff resources, and publications for the first half of H2020. The different sections present a series of tables concerning the budget, the contractual income, the staff and the outputs and publications for the whole JRC and, where possible, with a specification of the Euratom part.

3.1 The budget

Most of the JRC’s resources are allocated through the budget for JRC’s "direct research" of the Framework Programmes for Research. The budget allocated to JRC for the EC Framework programme for research and Innovation (2014-2020) is 1.902,6 million€13 and under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community14, for the period 2014-2018, is 559.562.000 €.

Additional credits are received from EFTA countries and other countries associated to the Framework Programme, in 2015 this contribution was 17,1 million€.

In addition to the JRC Framework Programme research budget, the JRC receives around € 30 million per year, to finance a programme to reduce and dispose of historical nuclear liabilities. These liabilities result from activities carried out on JRC sites in the past and concern the decommissioning of plants that have been shut down and waste produced. This decommissioning budget is not part of the research programme, although synergies and lessons learnt of the operational activities are obtained.

In the budgetary execution, the JRC splits its research budget in three categories, which require the approximate percentage of the total budget indicated:

Staff expenses 60 %

Means of execution 31 %

Specific credits 9 %

Means of execution, refers to expenses like for maintenance of buildings and equipment, electricity, insurances Specific credits (operational expenses) are direct scientific procurements.

Contractual income

On top of this budget the JRC generates external revenues through additional work, out of the direct research programme. The sources of these revenues are:

a. the additional support provided to Commission services, b. the contract work for third parties such as regional authorities or industry, and c. the participation in Indirect Actions of the Framework Programme as members of

consortia and excellence networks.

13 REGULATION (EU) No 1291/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 December 2013

establishing Horizon 2020 - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020) 14

COUNCIL REGULATION (EURATOM) No 1314/2013 on the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community 2014-2018) complementing the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Article 4

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These contractual activities complement the tasks outlined in the JRC’s own work programme and are seen as an essential mechanism for acquiring and transferring expertise and know-how. They also allow the JRC to be firmly integrated in the European research landscape.

The target for the JRC is to obtain 15% of its income through these activities. The income earned by JRC in 2015 through its competitive activities amounts to 70.3 million €, the amount corresponding to Euratom activities, present variations as the signature or the end of important contracts makes a difference between years, the average of Euratom related income is about 18%, higher than the JRC target.

Contractual income (contracts signed) 2015

Indirect actions (framework programme) 7,7 M€

Support to Commission services 58,1 M€

Third party work 8,1 M€

Total 73,9 M€

3.2 The staff

The JRC staff has around 3000 members, about 70 % of them are scientists and technicians conducting work linked to the work programme execution, 27% carry out administrative or support activities, and 3% work in nuclear decommissioning and waste management.

The staff of the JRC can be classified into two categories:

• Core staffs are permanent members subject to the European Communities Staff Regulations; about two thirds of the JRC staff belongs to this category.

• Temporary staff which is one third of the JRC staff is made up of two groups: a) contractual agents, (almost 400 members on temporary contracts, most of them in administrative and support tasks) and b) visiting staff working in work programme related tasks; in the group are 590 grantholders (70 postgraduate and 520 post-doctoral fellows), 40 detached national experts and 60 visiting scientists (approximate number, as the figures are variable). There are also some trainees in shorter stays.

The staff under the Euratom budget has about 700 members, around 522 are permanent staff and 178 are temporary staff. The staff working in the Euratom Work programme (direct workforce) started the period with about 400 members, distributed as showed in the table. Additional staff (indirect workforce) is overheads (support, administration, security…), about 50 members are assigned to the Infrastructure, maintenance and radioprotection and about 60 members are working in the JRC Decommissioning programme.

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2014 2015 2016

Scientist 126 132 126

Technicians 163 152 157

Support staff 30 41 54

Grantholders 84 66 33

Detached national experts

3 4 4

The post-doctoral staff contracts are, for administrative reasons, being

changed to contractual agent's contract.

The distribution of the staff in the research areas presented in this report and its evolution, which reflects the staff reduction decided at Commission level, is showed in the table

Research area 2014 2015 2016

1.1 Nuclear reactor safety 57 60 51

1.2.a Conventional nuclear fuels 64 56 38

1.2.b Innovative nuclear fuels and fuel cycles

14 20 19

1.3 Radioactive waste management 31 32 38

1.4 Nuclear Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R)

14 14 21

1.5 Environmental monitoring & radiation protection

8 13 12

2.1 Nuclear safeguards 61 55 66

2.2 Nuclear security 59 45 34

2.3 Non-proliferation 9 11 13

3. Standards for Nuclear 62 63 61

1. 4. Non energy applications 6 6 7

5. Knowledge management, education

23 20 13

Total 406 394 373

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4. Nuclear research infrastructure

Nuclear research infrastructure is key for successful implementation of the Euratom research and training programme, and instrumental for scientific cooperation in Europe. The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures – ESFRI15– identifies Research Infrastructures (RIs) of pan-European interest meeting the long-term needs of Europe’s research communities across all scientific areas. The publication, since 2006, of periodically updated ESFRI roadmaps provides to the Council of the European Union a coherent and strategic vision to ensure Europe has excellent RIs accessible to all leading researchers and to exploit fully the potential for scientific advancement and innovation. The last version of the roadmap has been recently issued in March, 2016.

Existing JRC Infrastructure

JRC has recently concluded an assessment of all its research infrastructure and laboratories, including Euratom laboratories. The assessment describes in detail both: the laboratories and research infrastructure, the experimental work carried out, as well as the strategic plans for the development of JRC infrastructure. Without being exhaustive, the assessment yielded that the evolution of JRC's research infrastructure has been based on strategies focused on the optimisation of the facilities per site, responding to the challenges of dispersion of laboratories, safety and security requirements, better use of resources, reduction of skilled staff, obsolescence, synergies, etc. The strategy for further developing the JRC Euratom research infrastructure will take in consideration that the diversity of the research infrastructure and the diversity of teams is an invaluable asset of the JRC that should be maintained and valorised. Thus, the future development and upgrade of the infrastructure will continue to be driven by its better integration and optimisation per site, but bearing in mind the evident complementarity of the different experimental capacities in each site which add together to ensure comprehensive wide-scope nuclear laboratories suitable for carrying out JRC's work programme.

Although more detail information is presented in the assessment report, it is recognised that the EURATOM laboratories must not be isolated from the rest of the research activities of the JRC, nor from the ones of the Member States. It is also important to highlight the vocation of JRC labs to be complementary to those of Member States, and to take part in the relevant fora in which scarce, unique and invaluable nuclear research facilities of Member States put in common their ideas to better and more efficiently serve European nuclear research.

New JRC Infrastructure

Complying with the nuclear safety and security requirements of the regulatory authorities in the host countries is an utmost priority for the JRC. Indeed, to respond to the request of the German Authorities to upgrade the nuclear safety and security features of JRC-Karlsruhe, the construction of a new building wing M will start in September 2016. Three wings will be decommissioned in the medium term, and their activities will be transferred to wing M. Furthermore, the site renovation concept foresees when finalised two wings rather than the four in place today, and therefore operating costs in the longer term will diminish.

15 http://www.esfri.eu/sites/default/files/20160309_ROADMAP_browsable.pdf

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A number of challenges lay ahead. Building, maintaining and operating nuclear research facility is a rather high resource consuming activity (both human and financial). Optimization of human and financial resources, in particular concerning technical staff, is a necessary condition to face both the ongoing reduction of manpower and the burden connected with the foreseen operation of a user facility. Consolidation of laboratory space, reduction of the number of units, and integration of homogeneous activities will be key factors for achieving this goal. Notwithstanding these measures, there is a risk of shortfall of scientists and qualified experts to run the existing and planned nuclear-related research infrastructure at its full capacity. In other words, the savings on staff will not compensate the drain of scientists and technicians due to retirement, expiration of contracts and insufficient replacement. Attracting the already scarce best talent in nuclear science and technology to the JRC is fundamental to overcome this very real risk.

Open access to JRC Infrastructure

The Commission reviewed in 2016 its European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructures16, which establishes non-binding criteria and guidelines for defining access policies for Research Infrastructures and related services.

The first "Forum on Access to Existing EU Nuclear Fission Research Infrastructure" was organised in January 2015, in Brussels. The initiative, launched by the JRC and DG RTD, was attended by more than 60 participants from the Commission, the EU Member States and by representatives from the main European networks and platforms dealing with education, training and research in the nuclear field. This Forum succeeded in bringing together the main EU research and training stakeholders and addressed the challenges for an effective European system of access to nuclear fission research infrastructures. The outcomes of the Forum will be the basis for further actions and decisions at EU level, aimed at developing appropriate mechanisms to ensure synergies and to optimise the use of resources within a common simplified administrative environment

It is important to highlight in this respect that JRC has since many years opened for access by external scientist some of its research infrastructure, through JRC initiatives (EUFRAT, ActusLab) or being partner of European networks, and is currently considering extending this practice to other laboratories.

16 https://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/2016_charterforaccessto-ris.pdf

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5. EURATOM legal and policy basis

The JRC's Euratom research activities fall under the following policy areas set out in the Juncker Commission's agenda: 3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy 9. Europe as a Stronger Global Actor The JRC's work programme answers to the legal mandate contained in:

EURATOM treaty, Treaty Establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM Treaty) (2012/C 327/01)

Council regulation (EURATOM) No 1314/2013 of 16/12/2013 on the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2014-2018) complementing the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme.

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2013/59/EURATOM of 5 December 2013, laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation.

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2011/70/EURATOM of 19 July 2011 establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste.

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2014/87/EURATOM of 8 July 2014 amending Directive 2009/71/Euratom establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations

Commission Recommendation (2009/120/EURATOM) on implementation of a nuclear material accountancy and control system by nuclear operators.

Commission Decision C(2013) 5641 final, of 5.9.2013 on the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding for a partnership between the European Atomic Energy Community and the International Atomic Energy Agency on nuclear safety cooperation.