Summary
8th International Topical Meeting on Research Reactor Fuel Management
(RRFM)
2 April 2004
RESEARCH REACTOR FUEL MANAGEMENT, RRFM 2004
ROUND-UP OF THE 8TH INTERNATIONAL TOPICAL MEETING
IN MUNICH
With a turnout of 174 participants from all over
the world, the 8th International Topical Meeting on Research Reactor
Fuel Management – RRFM 2004 - held in Munich on 22-23 March
2004, was a resounding success.
(To refer to the conference programme which was presented
and the Transactions document, please go to: Programme or Transactions)
Pol Gubel, chairman of the RRFM Programme Committee,
shares his impressions of this year’s conference here.
It is not my intention to give a detailed overview
of all the presentations of this conference but rather a short overview
of the main messages, views, ideas and the progress regarding the
fuel cycle management for research reactors.
This was very special meeting because it was held
in the city where the brand-new FRM-II reactor is now being commissioned.
This also why we started the first session with two
presentations on FRM-II, one on its first nuclear startup, and the
second on its utilisation.
To celebrate this important event, we continued with
a series of invited papers on international topics of interest to
the whole research reactor community. We heard about the status of
the US policy concerning non-proliferation, conversion to LEU and
the return of foreign spent fuel to America and Russia. For the first
time, we learnt officially that the US Government is seriously considering
an extension of its acceptance policy beyond the period 2006-2009.
Three facts triggered the US Administration’s change in attitude:
-
-
the fact that only about 50% of the eligible HEU in the world
will be returned back to the US within the present acceptance
period and
-
the unexpected difficulties with the development and the qualification
of the new UMo fuels.
We also heard about the European initiatives to support the large
nuclear facilities – eg. research reactors, in order to contribute
to the creation of a European Research Area (ERA) whose aim is the increased cooperation between
the EU member states. In addition, the role of present and future
research reactors was clearly identified as a support to the development
of innovative reactor systems: the research reactors were defined
as an essential link between new concepts, new ideas and the reality.
The second session,
devoted to Fuel Development, Qualification, fabrication and licensing,
was dominated by the results of new observations on UMo fuels since
the previous RRFM Topical Meeting in 2003. Abnormal behaviour - swelling
of the fuel meat - was indeed observed during experiments in the reactors
BR2 (Belgium) and OSIRIS (France). The results of previous experiments
in the US were revisited and their new analysis confirmed the European
observations. Clearly, the dispersion UMo fuels showed their limitations
in terms of burn-up, temperature and specific power. Various possible
solutions to the observed anomalies will be studied but this needs
time. The monolithic UMo fuel could be an alternative solution but
the behaviour of this fuel under irradiation should also be carefully
addressed. Moreover, new technologies need to be developed and qualified
to manufacture the plates. New experiments are already planned in
the US (RERTR-6 and 7 capsules in the reactor ATR) and France (experiments
IRIS-3 and 4 in the reactor OSIRIS) to study, in parallel, the behaviour
of dispersion and monolithic UMo fuels. As a consequence of these
necessary new development initiatives, the qualification of the UMo
dispersion fuel has been delayed by several years (2009 to 2010).
Obviously, this new delay could be a serious problem for some RR operators
if the US does not extend their take-back programme.
The third session was devoted to Reactor Operation,
Fuel Safety and Core Conversion. Different papers on these subjects
were presented during oral and poster presentations. Meriting special
mention are:
The fourth session dealt with Spent
Fuel Management, Back-end Options and Transportation. Following the
US’s and Russia’s termination of the take-back programmes,
a multinational approach to the back-end of the RR fuel cycle seems
to be the only solution for many countries which have RR and no nuclear
programme, and which face the problem of final disposal of small amounts
of spent fuels. Difficult obstacles still exist: political willingness,
legal issues, cost sharing and public acceptance but it is time to start
discussions. This is the message communicated by the IAEA during its
last General Conference. The presented paper specifies the concept and
the important issues to be considered in a multinational approach.
Reprocessing is the ultimate back-end solution for
RR fuel. While reprocessing was reserved to aluminide fuels and was
recently extended to silicide fuels in limited quantities, COGEMA is
confirming its capability and willingness to accept UMo fuels. This
is an answer to the remarks and questions raised during the 2003 RERTR
meeting in Chicago.
Decommissioning a Material Test Reactor fuel cycle
is the challenge the UKAEA has to face at its Dounreay site. The presented
paper sets out the integrated approach taken in order to decommission
the various different facilities.
A US representative gave an update of the US foreign
research reactor spent nuclear fuel acceptance programme. This acceptance
programme has now passed the approximate midpoint of its duration and
an increased number of requests for programme extension has been received.
An extension of the programme is now seriously under consideration by
the US Authorities. However, eligible reactor operators interested in
the programme are strongly encouraged to plan future shipments as soon
as possible. A non-extension of the present fuel acceptance programme
could, for different reasons, be a serious threat for many RR operators.
The Global Cleanout Project (GCP) is a new concept
aiming to isolate, collect and secure quantities of radioactive materials
all over the world and return them to appropriate disposal sites. This
is, clearly, an international initiative in line with the IAEA recommendations.
The presented paper specified the modalities and the way of funding
by the participants. This is an interesting subject that will certainly
be discussed again during our next meeting.
