The Jules Horowitz Reactor project: status and fuel licensing process

The JHR safety standard for fuels is more comprehensive than historical standards used in French research reactors. The JHR standard is largely based on the framework recommended for power reactors. This standard nevertheless takes into account the specificities of the fuel. In collaboration with partners such as AREVA-CERCA and the Belgian SCK-CEN research centre, the CEA has been implementing a significant effort for the JHR fuel licensing with the purpose to reach ) fuel high performances, as required by JHR operation and 2) safety demonstration within stringent up-to-date safety standards. The CEA is pursuing its efforts to improve its knowledge of: 1) The operating limits conditioning the occurrence of cladding failure. 2) Radioelement release rates with the presence of cracks or other damage taking into account the kinetics governing the expected operating conditions. CEA is deeply committed in the UMo fuel development within an international collaboration with the objective to demonstrate the same level of safety performance compared to U3Si2 fuel