Recent CANDU industry R&D on the CANDU fuel

In Canada, safe operation of CANDU reactors is supported by a full-scope program of nuclear safety Research and Development (R&D) in key technical areas. Basically, the R&D program required for due diligence in CANDU safety is dominated by COG (CANDU Owners Group). The current COG R&D Program comprises one Strategic R&D program and five base R&D programs such as Fuel Channels (FC), Safety & Licensing (S&L), Health Safety & Environment (HSE), Chemistry, Materials & Components (CM&C) and Industry Standard Toolset (IST). The S&L R&D Program addresses issues related to the safety design basis and safe operating envelope of existing nuclear plants, and has a strong focus on supporting the resolution of outstanding generic safety and licensing issues. There are six disciplines under the S&L R&D Program: Containment and Severe Accidents, Fuel Normal Operating Conditions (FNOC), Fuel and Fuel Channels (F&FC), Physics, Probability Safety Assessment (PSA), and Thermalhydraulics. This presentation will make an overview of the S&L R&D program including R&D drivers and 5-year mid-term strategy, with a focus on the recent CANDU industry R&D on the CANDU fuel. (author)