In the last week before Christmas, employees of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from the USA and the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) from Germany visited the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HDZR). The NRC is the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is responsible, among other things, for monitoring the safety of nuclear facilities in the United States. The aim of their visit was the international exchange of experience on project topics related to nuclear safety research, which have been and are being worked on by the university's Institute of Process Engineering, Process Automation and Measurement Technology (IPM) in close cooperation with the HZDR's Institute of Fluid Dynamics.

On the first day of the meeting, after the introduction of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, the Nuclear Technology/Soft Computing Group of the IPM presented its research activities of recent years in the field of nuclear safety research. The focus was primarily on the current project "Particle formation and transport in the core of pressurized water reactors" and the objectives of the follow-up project.

The NRC and GRS representatives then toured the IPM's test laboratories and facilities. They inspected the many single-effect and integral test rigs in the thermal hydraulics laboratory and the facilities of the new Zittau power plant laboratory (KWL). The American authority and GRS were thus able to demonstrate the interdisciplinary research expertise in the border triangle and the high-quality and extensive technical equipment of the laboratories available here.

The meeting continued in Rossendorf on December 18. In addition to the research projects of the HZDR, the current projects and problems of the safety authorities NRC and GRS were presented. The results presented clearly showed that there are major overlaps in the content of current activities in the field of nuclear safety research. This was followed by a tour of the HZDR's test facilities.

At the end of the two-day event, closer international cooperation was discussed and the need for a more intensive exchange of information was emphasized.