RRFM 2006 - Summary

Programme	Social programme	Venue
Accommodation	How to get there	Call for papers
Technical tour	Registration	Visa
Contact	Exhibition	IAEA Travel Grants
Transactions	Presentations	Photo Gallery
Summary

SUMMARY RRFM’ 2006

As in Munich and Budapest we started this conference with a first session devoted to subjects of general interest for the whole research reactor community. Because we were in Sofia at the invitation of the Bulgarian Nuclear Society and the Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy (INRNE) we started with a first presentation on the progress about the reconstruction of the R.R. IRT-Sofia.

The utilization of our R.R. is peaceful. It is however never excluded that their fresh or spent fuels be somehow diverted for malicious uses. This justifies an initiative as GTRI which oversees the RERTR Program, the foreign R.R. Spent Fuel Acceptance Program, the Russian R.R. Fuel Return Program, the Global R.R. Security Program and the GAP Materials Program. The GAP Program is a new program developed by DOE to address materials not covered by previous threat reduction efforts (it means HEU of all origins and plutonium bearing materials). Under this program GTRI works to develop partnerships with government agencies, facility operators to identify, remove and facilitate the final disposition of GAP materials. A first example is the collaboration between GTRI and AREVA to address a disposition option through reprocessing at AREVA facilities in France. Always in Session 1 we received a clarification of the worldwide activities of the TRIGA reactors. As a special application we heard about the reconstruction project of the ENEA Triga RC-1 R.R. to accommodate the TRADE project (feasibility of an ADS system).

Session 2 is now for years the hottest topic of our conferences. Session 2 means for all of us fuel development, qualification and licensing. This topic is important in the frame of the enrichment reduction initiatives. The goal is ultimately the qualification of a high density UMo fuel by the end of 2010 and the conversion of all reactors, including the US domestic high power reactors by 2014. After the discovery of unexpected problems of swelling and pillowing in the FUTURE experiment, American, French, Russian, Argentinian, Korean and Canadian groups setup plans to understand, eliminate or mitigate this behavior by out of pile experiments and in pile investigations. This year we heard very encouraging results of the addition of Silicon in the Aluminum matrix of dispersed fuels. These results come from in-pile experiments (RERTR6, IRIS-3) and from simulations with heavy ion irradiations. These optimistic results should however be further analyzed and confirmed. In parallel the same groups evaluated the fabrication methods of UMo monolithic fuels and their behavior under irradiation.

Session 3 was devoted to the spent fuel management, back-end options and transportation. We heard about the continued acceptance by the US of the foreign fuels for the next years and the associated conditions. We heard about the conditions for a safe and long term storage of Aluminum clad fuels under water. We heard finally about the conditions and ways for a successful reprocessing of MTR fuels at the French La Hague plant.

In Session 4 - Reactor Operation, Fuel Safety and Core Conversion- the main topics concerned the conversion projects and evaluations for the ITR-Sofia, FRM-II, HFR-Petten and HOR-Delft reactors. Others covered a new concept for a super high flux reactor, the qualification of a Chilean test fuel element and the safety evaluation of the IRIS experiment.

In parallel with Session 4, we organized for the first time a Session 5 devoted to Innovative Methods in R.R. Analysis. A sufficient number of interesting presentations were submitted and the attendance was adequate. This initiative shall be evaluated by the Program Committee during its next meeting in June.

P. Gubel