On September 26 and 27, 2016, the CEA's Chairman and head of the French delegation at the 60th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Daniel Verwaerde, signed three ICERR-affiliate agreements with the Jozef Stefan Institute (Slovenia), CNSTN[1] (Tunisia) and CNESTEN[2] (Morocco). These affiliate agreements give IAEA member states who seek to acquire competence in nuclear R&D access to ICERR-designated research reactors in operation in other member states.
Confronted with the energy and climate challenges of the 21st century, an increasing number of countries are initiating nuclear programs or improve existing programs. They thus need to develop scientific competence. Access to a research reactor often represents a financial and technological challenge for some of these countries, even though numerous advanced research reactors are already in operation in various regions of the world. Building on this observation, the IAEA seeks to encourage the sharing of existing research reactors through the International CEnter based on Research Reactors (ICERR) initiative. [MG1]
On September 14, 2015, two of the CEA's research reactors, ISIS (Saclay) and RJH (currently under construction at the Cadarache center) and the associated research facilities (critical mockups, hot laboratories[3]) were the first research reactors in the world chosen to receive ICERR certification.
Daniel Verwaerde explained that as a result of the ICERR-affiliate agreements, CEA will soon receive students and scientists from these countries. During the General Conference, he also expressed the wish that numerous other member states join them, noting "The ICERR label indicates both the excellence of the CEA's research infrastructure and its encouragement of international openness."
Amano's visit to Cadarache: https://www.cea.fr/presse/Pages/actualites-communiques/energies/AIEA-Amano-Cadarache.aspx