Spent Fuel characterisation and evolution until disposal (SFC)
Reduce uncertainties in spent fuel properties in predisposal phase
‘What’
This WP will develop and document an experimentally verified procedure to accurately determine the source term of irradiated spent fuels. It will also develop characterisation techniques that will allow us to more fully understand the physiochemical evolution of irradiated spent fuels (pellets and cladding) under normal and credible accident scenarios following reactor discharge (i.e. during interim storage (wet and dry), transport to and emplacement in a GDF).
'Why'
Accurately determining the source term (see “…management of inventory data and uncertainty treatment”) and evolving condition (see “Improved understanding of the impacts of extended storage…”) of spent fuel is fundamental to safety assessment. This is reflected in the fact that both of these Roadmap theme 2 activities are shared high priorities. Parameters such as decay heat and nuclear reactivity (fissile content) need to be known to decide how much fuel can be safely loaded into a disposal container and how closely disposal containers can be emplaced at disposal. In the absence of accurate knowledge there is a risk that these parameters could be too conservatively estimated. Conservatisms would then percolate through container loadings and facility layouts, potentially resulting in substantially more containers than necessary, more transport operations and ultimately a larger facility footprint. This scenario has safety and cost ramifications. Conversely, the alternative is also possible (i.e. optimistic parameters are estimated), which could then be detrimental to safety, i.e. inadvertently breach a thermal or criticality safety limit.
WMOs are particularly interested in the possibility of an NDA technique that could allow swift and accurate corroboration of spent fuel records, prior to fuel containerisation (i.e. potential waste acceptance criteria (WAC), such as a fuel burn-up measurement or a thermal limit acceptance check). WAC is a key thematic area under theme 2of the EURAD Roadmap and is typically of most interest to more advanced stage programmes (Phase 2 onwards).
This has potential to effectively integrate with the parallel HITEC RD&D WP (i.e. scrutinise actual thermal output and also the validity of currently applied thermal limits).
Closing words from WP Leader
The work package is now completed. A large number of high quality and impact publications has been completed of high importance for the nuclear fuel back-end community. The results have been continuously disseminated in a number of international and national fora, such as IAEA, NEA/OECD and EPRI to give a few important examples.
The WP fulfils the important mission to integrate the relevant researchers in Europe in a way that was not the case before EURAD. Naturally, only part of the needs of Europe when it comes to spent fuel characterisation has been done, and many important issues remain, although everything planned in the WP is being executed.
