Overview of NEA Activities inActinide and Fission ProductPartitioning and Transmutation
Thierry Dujardin
Deputy Director, Science and Development
OECD Nuclear Energy Agency
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9th IEM on P&T, Nîmes (France)1

Recent and On-going
NEA Activities on P & T
 Scientific issues¾ Physics¾ Chemistry
 Strategic issues
 Other activities

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NEA Committees Involvement in P & T
WORKING PARTIES

NDC

Ad hoc working groups

RWMC
Working Party on P & T(WPPT) (until 2004)

NSCNEA COMMITTEES
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Working Party on
Scientific Issues of theFuel Cycle (WPFC)

Working Party on
Scientific Issues ofReactor Systems
9th IEM on P&T, Nîmes (France)(WPRS)

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Scientific Issues
 Physics¾ Accelerator and Spallation Target

Technologies for ADS Applications¾ Benchmark study on Beam Interruptions inADS¾ Physics and safety of transmutation systems¾ Series of Workshops on Utilisation andReliability of high power proton accelerators
 Chemistry¾ Fuels and Materials for Transmutation¾ Lead-Bismuth Eutectic Handbook
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Accelerator and Spallation Target
Technologies for ADS Applications
WPPT - subgroup on accelerator utilisation andreliability
 Status report published in 2005
 Contributions from 16 Institutes and NationalLabs
 Review of¾ the two major accelerator options for ADS¾ spallation target technology¾ technologies scalable to industry
 a linear accelerator driving a Pb-Bi eutectic

spallation source seems to be a systemproviding the necessary neutron fluence
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9th IEM on P&T, Nîmes (France)5Benchmark on Beam Interruptions inAccelerator-driven Systems
WPPT /WPFC Subgroup on Accelerator Utilisation
 Three phase study of temperature and power
variations induced by accelerator beaminterruptions¾Phase I: minimal models¾Phase II: with ‘fresh’ fuels¾Phase III: under irradiated fuel conditions
 Reports for Phases I and II have been published(2003 and 2004). Phase III is on-going
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6Physics and Safety ofTransmutation Systems
WPPT
 Status report published in 2006
 Contributors for 10 Institutes and National Labs
 Contents¾ P & T and the role of ADS¾ Scenario studies for P&T: time dependent P&T studies,
overview of software, applications to ADS¾ ADS dynamics and safety¾ Transmutation of long-lived fission products¾ Impact of nuclear data uncertainties on ADS design
parameters
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Fuels and Materials for Transmutation
WPPT
 Status report published in 2005
 Contributors from 16 Institutes and National Labs
 Contents¾ Thermo-physical and thermo-chemical data forrelevant actinide compounds and alloys¾ Fuel selection criteria and fuel fabrication¾ Prediction of fuel behaviour¾ Structural materials: cladding and compatibility withmolten heavy metals¾ Transmutation of long-lived fission products¾ Hydrides as moderators
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Handbook on Lead Bismuth Eutectic (1)WPFC, subgroup on LBE technology
 Critical review of existing literature and data onPb and LBE¾ leading to standards¾ identifying areas where further studies are needed¾ establishing a common methodology for experiments
and data analysis
 Contributors from 8 Institutes and National Labs

from 7 member countries
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9Handbook on Lead Bismuth Eutectic (2) Areas covered¾ Thermophysical, electrical, transport and chemical
thermodynamics data
¾ Chemistry (in particular, oxygen level control andmonitoring)¾ Material science aspects: behaviour underirradiation conditions¾ Compatibility with structural materials with/out
proton irradiation¾ Thermohydraulics, Instrumentation and Safetyaspects
 Version 0 planned for 2006 - update for 2009
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10Series of Workshops on the Utilisation andReliability of High Power Proton Accelerators
WPFC subgroup on accelerator utilisation
 5th Workshop will take place in Mol (Belgium)

hosted by SCK/CEN, 6/9 May 2007, and will
include the following topics:¾ Accelerator programmes and applications¾ Accelerator reliability¾ Spallation target development and coolant
technology¾ Sub-critical system design and ADS simulations¾ Safety and control of ADS¾ ADS experiments and test facilities
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11Strategic Issues
 Status report on national programmes inpartitioning Studies of fuel cycle transition scenarios Impact of advanced fuel cycles on waste

management policies

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Status Report on National Programmes inPartitioning
WPFC, subgroup on chemical partitioning Subgroup objectives:¾ perform a thorough technical assessment of separations
processes in application to a broad set of P&T operating
scenarios¾ identify important research, development anddemonstration necessary to bring preferred technologies
to a deployable stage, and¾ recommend collaborative international efforts to furthertechnology development
 Reports received from 9 member countries for bothaqueous and pyrochemical partitioning processes
 To be published in 2007
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13Fuel Cycle Transition Scenarios (1)WPFC, subgroup on fuel cycle transition
scenarios Preparation of a general report on transition

scenarios (to be published in 2006)¾ Timing of key technologies¾ Overview of country-dependent scenarios¾ Systematic discussion of key issues
 System code benchmark study (ongoing, to bepublished in 2007)¾ 3 scenarios: once through / limited Pu recycling
in LWRs / Pu and MA recycling in FRs
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Fuel Cycle Transition Scenarios (2) Regional approaches¾To be published in 2007
¾Regionally sharing facilities and inventories
to optimize resources and to match enhanced
non-proliferation requirements¾2 groups of countries
 Phase-outpolicies
 Continuation (Pu in ADS or FRs)

¾4 scenarios
invited talk by Massimo Salvatores
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Impact of Advanced Fuel Cycles inWaste Management Policies
NDC ad hoc working group Report published in May 2006
 Building on¾ Integration Group for the Safety Case (RWMC)¾ NSC working group on flow-sheet studies
 Analysis of advanced fuel cycle options from theperspective of their effects in waste management
options, in particular repositories for HLW¾ Impact on HLW isotopic composition on repository
performance¾ Impact on repository size and cost
Invited talk by Jean-Marc Cavedon (TS IV – Thursday)
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Other Activities
This series of Information ExchangeMeetings on Actinide and Fission ProductPartitioning and Transmutation¾ 10th - Tokai-Mura, Japan - November 2008
 International Peer Reviews
 New activities¾ Structural Materials for Innovative Nuclear
Systems (SMINS)¾ Expert Group on “ab-initio” Modelling andSimulation (AI-MS)
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International Peer Review of theFrench P&T Programme (1) At the request of the French Government, in thecontext of the French Law (Bataille) of Dec 1991
 Focusing on the CEA Report 2005 on P & T
 Carried out by 10 international experts
 Objectives of the peer review¾ Assess the soundness of the Report in terms ofscientific and technical approach; methodology;
results and strategy¾ Formulate detailed recommendations for
improvement which may help the decision-making
process leading to an application phase of P&T
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International Peer Review of theFrench P & T Programme (2)15 conclusions – 20 recommendations
 Very high quality of the R&D carried out The IRT accepts that long term management ofactinides via fast reactors is a practicalpossibility
 Scope and limits of the report¾ The report does not try to address an integrated approach of theimpact of P&T on the whole fuel cycle¾ P&T is almost always considered in terms of reduction ofradiotoxicity. Other criteria, such as reduced heat loading,
reduced waste volume or impact on the fuel cycle cost should
also be considered Heat load --- > Strontium
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19International Peer Review of theFrench P & T Programme (3) Recycling technology for transmutation fuelsand targets should be developed in close
relationship with the fuel and target
development programme itself
 Separation Am / Cm
 The report should address more fully the difficultyof handling of multigram quantities of minor
actinides in the fuel cycle
 Fuel and target development after 2009 might bedifficult with the closure of Phénix
Available as an NEA 2006 Publication
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Workshop on the Structural Materials forInnovative Nuclear Systems (SMINS) Following a proposal from Germany to NSC
 Workshop - FZK / Karlsruhe - 4/6 June 2007
 Focus on structural materials for systems such as

Generation IV reactors, critical and sub-criticaltransmutation systems and fusion devices
 Explore commonalities and differences in terms¾ of laboratory & large facility scale experimental tech.
¾ modeling and simulationin order to identify and develop potentialsynergies
www.nea.fr/html/science/struct_mater
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Start-up of an Expert Group on “ab-initio”
Modelling and Simulation (AI-MS) Following a proposal from USA to NSC
 Activity oriented towards fuels and thedevelopment of modelling and simulation
capabilities that may be used for computer
experiments for fuel development
 Currently preparing a detailed proposal for themandate and programme of work of the Expert
Groupcontact Federico.Mompean@oecd.org
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22Concluding Remarks
 Numerous and various NEA activities
 Horizontal/crosscutting within the NEA
 Balance between science and strategy

Altogether a good measure of the major
concern regarding the management of HLW
 For the future¾ Balance between activities (ADS ?)¾ Need of feedback to help defining the mostvaluable NEA activities for its member countries
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