The Nuclear Safety Council’s R&D activities cover a number of specific projects. Each project is designed with an objective, a schedule, a monitoring plan and its costs in mind. In selecting and executing projects, the following criteria must be met:

• The goal of the R&D project must be relevant in order to improve the knowledge of subjects related to the CSN’s functions. Each project must yield specific contributions (“returns”) for the CSN’s regulatory functions.

• The projects must be executed under the supervision and direct tracking of the CSN, to ensure, to the extent possible, the achievement of the proposed objectives and returns. Each project must be evaluated individually. This includes an independent outside evaluation to verify that the project was executed correctly and that the results and returns of the project live up to the defined expectations.

The CSN uses primarily two kinds of instruments for R&D project execution:

• Cooperation agreements. These are agreements with research entities in which the CSN provides part of the funding and the entities contribute in the form of work. The CSN supervises work execution and its results.

• Grants. The CSN announces grant opportunities offering funding under predefined conditions for specific R&D work on a series of subjects, open to all applicants. Research entities apply for these grants and are selected based on the evaluation criteria defined in the grant announcement.

The research entities that do the R&D work that the CSN is interested in are domestic or international entities of recognised prestige in their respective fields of research. The CSN aims for maximum synergy in R&D work, so the work can get done as efficiently as possible. It also strives for maximum cooperation with the industries affected by its regulatory activity, the regulatory authorities of other countries and European Union institutions.

These are the premises that frame the following list of CSN R&D projects. This list is revised quarterly to give an up-to-date view of the projects in progress at any given time. The list specifies for each project the title, execution period, entities involved, total cost and the funding provided by the CSN.