Using a deliberative approach, ECOSENS will analyse citizens’ views and risk perceptions, benefits and potentials of current and new nuclear technologies in the context of major societal challenges (climate crisis, sustainable energy policies, energy security). It will review through a socio-ethical lens the uptake of recommendations on stakeholder engagement and transdisciplinarity (notably integration of social sciences and humanities) in nuclear research and decision making, developing recommendations to overcome challenges. Societal stakeholders (authorities, industry, academia and civil society) are engaged to explore and co-construct possible energy futures and the role of nuclear energy therein. Sustainability assessment of current nuclear energy technologies will take into account the entire life of the nuclear investment including the nuclear fuel cycle. Integration of new technologies (Gen III+, IV, SMR) is then explored in the context of the future energy market and societal developments to identify the possible roles of nuclear energy in the climate neutral economy targeted for 2050. Multiple perspectives (nuclear experts, social scientist, stakeholder, society) are integrated and methodological recommendations for sustainability assessment are agreed. To address the weaknesses of existing economic models, ECOSENS develops a novel model based on the system of provision approach in order to create and calculate indicators relevant for a plethora of stakeholders (consumers, governments, suppliers). The model will include the “social discount rate” and considers the limits of our planet, as reflected in the “circular economy” system. A series of national case studies evaluates the model and provides relevant recommendations to stakeholders. ECOSENS activities and results will be largely communicated and disseminated through the network of stakeholders established to support innovative involvement, as well as through Open Access facilities.

This project aims to design and develop novel Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools and techniques that facilitate scalable and secure information systems and data exchange between Transmission System Operator (TSO) and Distribution System Operator (DSO). The three novel aspects of ICT tools and techniques to be developed in the project are: scalability – ability to deal with new users and increasingly larger volumes of information and data; security – protection against external threats and attacks; and interoperability –information exchange and communications based on existing and emerging international smart grid ICT standards. The project focuses on TSO-DSO interoperability. While TSO-TSO interoperability is currently well established by ENTSO-E through implementation of the Common Grid Model Exchange System, TSO-DSO interoperability will also benefit future TSO-TSO interoperability. In this context the project will also consider DSO to other Market-participants (DSOs, Aggregators, Distributed Energy Resource Operators, Micro-grid Operators) and information or data access portals that enable business processes involving relevant actors in the electrical power sector. Beyond state-of-the-art progress that will be achieved: Fully defined interface specifications for TSO-DSO information exchange interfaces based on Use Case analysis and IEC 61970/61968/62325 standards to support highly automated information exchange and network analysis. Fully defined interface specifications for information exchange between DSOs and market participants based on Use Case analysis and IEC 61850 and IEC 62325 standards to support highly automated information exchanges. Role-based access control that securely accommodates new data requirements and unbundling processes. A specified suite of ICT protocols and integration with the defined interfaces. Proof of Concept using field tests and demonstration with industry specification at both TSO and DSO levels.

Four European TSOs of Central-Eastern Europe (Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia), associated with power system experts, electricity retailers, IT providers and renewable electricity providers, propose to design a unique regional cooperation scheme: it aims at opening Balancing and Redispatching markets to new sources of flexibility and supporting such sources to act on such markets competitively. Thanks to a prototype aggregation solution and renewable generation forecasting techniques, flexibility providers – distributed generators (DG) and Commercial and Industrial (C&I) consumers providing demand response (DR) – are enabled, through retailers acting as flexibility aggregators, to provide competitive offers for Frequency Restoration Reserve (including secondary control activated with a response time between 30 seconds and 15 minutes). A comprehensive techno-economic model for the cross-border integration of such services involves a common activation function (CAF) tailored to congested borders and optimized to overcome critical intra-regional barriers. The resulting CAF is implemented into a prototype Regional Balancing and Redispatching Platform, securely integrated within the four TSOs’ IT systems: this makes research activities about cross-border integration flexible while linking with the aggregation solution. Use cases of growing complexity are pilot tested, going from the involvement of DR and DG into national balancing markets to cross-border competition between flexibility aggregators. Based on past experience with tertiary reserve, participating C&I consumers and DG are expected to provide close to 40MW of secondary reserve. Impact analyses of the pilot tests together with dissemination activities towards all the stakeholders of the electricity value chain will recommend business models and deployment roadmaps for the most promising use cases, which, in turn, contribute to the practical implementation of the European Balancing Target Model by 2020.

By 2020, several areas of the HVAC pan-European transmission system will be operated with extremely high penetrations of Power Electronics(PE)-interfaced generators, thus becoming the only generating units for some periods of the day or of the year – due to renewable (wind, solar) electricity. This will result in i) growing dynamic stability issues for the power system (possibly a new major barrier against future renewable penetration), ii) the necessity to upgrade existing protection schemes and iii) measures to mitigate the resulting degradation of power quality due to harmonics propagation. European TSOs from Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and UK have joined to address such challenges with manufacturers (Alstom, Enercon, Schneider Electric) and universities/research centres. They propose innovative solutions to progressively adjust the HVAC system operations. Firstly, a replicable methodology is developed for appraising the distance of any EU 28 control zone to instability due to PE proliferation and for monitoring it in real time, along with a portfolio of incremental improvements of existing technologies (the tuning of controllers, a pilot test of wide-area control techniques and the upgrading of protection devices with impacts on the present grid codes). Next, innovative power system control laws are designed to cope with the lack of synchronous machines. Numerical simulations and laboratory tests deliver promising control solutions together with recommendations for new PE grid connection rules and the development of a novel protection technology and mitigation of the foreseen power quality disturbances. Technology and economic impacts of such innovations are quantified together with barriers to be overcome in order to recommend future deployment scenarios. Dissemination activities support the deployment schemes of the project outputs based on knowledge sharing among targeted stakeholders at EC level.

RadoNorm is designed to initiate and perform research and technical development in support of European Union Member States, Associated Countries and the European Commission in their efforts to implement the European radiation protection Basic Safety Standards. The proposed multidisciplinary and inclusive research project will target all relevant steps of the radiation risk management cycle for radon and NORM exposure situations. RadoNorm aims to reduce scientific, technical and societal uncertainties by (i) initiating and performing research and technical developments, (ii) integrating education and training in all research and development activities, (iii) and disseminating the project achievements through targeted actions to the public, stakeholders and regulators. This will strengthen the scientific and technical basis for all key steps of the radiation risk management cycle for radon and NORM. The inclusive character of RadoNorm is given at different levels, by (i) targeting research and development on all steps of the management cycle, (ii) combining biomedical, and ecological research with mitigation development and social science research, (iii) integration of researchers from national radiation protection institutions, research centres, universities, and SME, (iv) incorporation of E&T activities in all undertakings, and (v) linking dissemination efforts directly to knowledge achievements and new recommendations. Steps addressed are the (a)characterization of radon and NORM exposures, (b)improving dosimetry, (c)assessing effects and risks for humans and the environment, (d)refining mitigation technologies, (e)raising the understanding for societal aspects, and (f)disseminating achievements. Further, an ambitious pan European E&T programme, will contribute to competence building and sustainability of the project findings. The project includes 56 partners from 22 EU member states and associated countries and collaboration with groups in the US and Canada.