As part of its longstanding cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Technical Safety Organisation Network (ETSON) took the opportunity to hold a side event at the 68th IAEA General Conference which took place from September 16 to September 20 in Vienna, Austria. To inform and engage with representatives of the IAEA and its member states, ETSON President Jean-Christophe Niel (IRSN), ETSON Vice President Michel Van haesendonck and other experts of ETSON members highlighted recent and ongoing activities of the network.

ETSON is delighted to announce that the Practical Agreement between ETSON and IAEA was renewed by an exchange of letters between ETSON’s President and IAEA’s Deputy Director General L. Evrard, until September 2027.

The year 2023 has seen various significant events that have undeniably influenced the nuclear field and impacted the ETSON activities, also on a global scale.

Find out more about ETSON´s organisation, activities and external relations in 2023 in our annual report.

From June 12 to June 14, IRSN hosted meetings of the ETSON Board and the General Assembly in Cadarache, France.

Over the past years, an increasing number of EU member states have expressed great interest in the development and deployment of small modular reactors (SMR) with a view to reduce their future CO2-emissions, in some cases including the allocation of specific programmes and budgets and even concrete plans for SMR build.

In 2023, four teams participated in the final phase. A Science slam was organized At BEL V in Brussels by the "Junior Staff Program" on October  11th.

An ETSON Conference was held on 11 and 12 October 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. Bel V hosted this 2023 edition.
There were about 5O participants from different European TSOs, as well as representation on behalf of the Japanese TSO NRA.

The second edition of the ETSON Conference entitled “TSO challenges in a rapidly evolving environment” will take place in Brussels on 11 & 12 October 2023.
 

HARMONISE project partners will have clustering activities with high-level Key Stakeholders, with the aim of mutual benefits.

In view of the renewed interest and initiatives in nuclear energy in numerous countries in Europe and around the world, the members of the European Technical Safety Organisations Network (ETSON) – a grouping of 17 EU TSOs and their associated members in Japan, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom – have started a network-wide reflection on its future strategy.