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Summary
8th International Topical Meeting on Research Reactor Fuel Management (RRFM)
| Summary |
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:
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the 9-11 event;
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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
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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:
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the necessary conversion programme for the reactor FRM-II;
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the improvements and refurbishment activities on the ILL and MIR reactors; and
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the construction of the replacement RR in Australia.
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.