European Utility Requirement

The European Fast Reactor (EFR) is the product of the development programme in Europe and embodies the experience from the development and prototype reactors in France, Britain and Germany. EFR has reached the point where prospects can be seen for competitive electricity generation, with a level of safety equivalent to that of up-to-date NPPs, typically represented by the European Utilities Requirement being prepared for future LWRs. 

European Utility Requirements, Revision C, April 2001, European Utility Requirements Document for Light Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plants. 

For future reactors the utilities require an improvement of safety, competitiveness and better integration of the present-day fuel cycle constraints (reference is made to European Utility Requirements). For this purpose new concepts of nuclear systems are proposed by the... 

Similar or relevant SMRs IRIS, CAREM, MARS (Italy) The concept has been developed in line with the European utility requirements for enhanced reliability and safety and improved economics for next generation reactors ... 

Europe and Asia. A similar set of requirements, the European Utility Requirements (EUR), is being prepared by major European utilities. Various efforts to develop regulatory approaches for future reactors and to harmonize those approaches are underway in many countries, in some cases with co-ordination provided by the IAEA or the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/NEA). 

The majority of nuclear utilities worldwide are engaged in defining their needs and goals for nuclear plants to be ordered in the future. In these efforts, many utilities have joined in co-operation with other utilities at the national and international levels. In this endeavor, two sets of utility requirements prepared by two groups from utilities of various countries are important they are the Utility Requirements Document (URD) and the European Utility Requirements (EUR). 

In order to maintain nuclear generation competitive with fossil energy with a very high level of safety, utilities have to prepare the next generation of NPPs. With safety, some factors will be pemment proven technology, standardization, cost effectiveness. The European Utility Requirements document (EUR) is a tool to implement such a policy and to allow competition. In parallel the industry is preparing the European PWR (EPR), the most advanced of future projects. 

NPI Joint company of Framatome and Siemens French-German Directorate of Licensing Bodies EUR European Utility Requirements... 

The USA is actively involved in most international activities on harmonization of safety approaches. The NRC is involved in IAEA activities (e.g. TECDOC-801), and in an NEA Working Group effort on resolution of severe accident issues. The US industry is also deeply involved in harmonization efforts, leading the major programme to create the Utility Requirements Document that included the active participation of six European and Asian utilities. The US industry is working with the European utilities creating the European Utility Requirements (EUR) to identify and reduce differences between the URD and EUR (increasing harmonization). The US industry actively participates in IAEA activities. 

In general, a patent can be granted for an invention which is new (the novelty requirement), is not obvious (the inventive step requirement), is commercially or industrially useful (the utility requirement) and is not otherwise barred by law from being the subject of a patent (for example, at least at the European Patent Office (EPO) plant and animal varieties are not patentable, and inventions the publication or exploitation of which are contrary to morahty are not patentable). The requirements for a patentable invention are outlined in Table 12.1. 

The EPRI document Utility requirement document (EPRI, 1990) which preceded the similar European effort for the EUR, had similar standardization aims. The two sets of criteria are similar even if they cannot be considered identical. The differences, however, are such that two plant designs, performed according to two sets of criteria should not significantly differ. 

The technical specification is a preferred way of dealing with the shutdown safety issues in the USA. The USA regulators determined that the technical specification requirements would be appropriate for assuring the safety in shutdown. Most of the European countries required utilities to perform a PSA study and identify possible improvements for shutdown operations. 

Patent systems typically require that the claimed invention must have utility (as set forth in 35 U.S. C. 101) or must be susceptible to industrial application (as set forth in Art. 57 EPC). With regard to genetic patenting, the European Patent Convention explicitly states that the industrial application of a sequence or a partial sequence of a gene must be disclosed in the patent application (see Rule 23e(3) EPC)). The requirement to associate the sequence with a function can also be found in U.S. law. 

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