Objectives and status of the German AF program

German AF Program is coordinated by KFA Juelich. Industry is involved in General Analysis, Reactor Conversion Studies, and Fuel Element Development. Research Centers are dealing with Fuel and Fuel Element Irradiation Performance; PIE test and studies of advanced fuels. The objectives of the program are: to develop research reactor fuels with high uranium density to allow enrichment reduction on the basis of a fuel element design as near as possible to that currently used with a minimum of loss in reactor performance and of penalties to the users (crucial points: fuel cycle economy, flux requirements for experiments, safety and licensing aspects); to develop fuel fabrication technologies which enable fuel element production on industrial and commercial scale (enrichment not higher than 20%); to elaborate by generic and specific studies concepts to convert existing research reactors to reduced enrichment and to construct new powerful research reactors on the basis of 20% enrichment; to test fuel (plates of reduced size) and full size elements under irradiation conditions required for quality assurance and licensing requirements in the Federal Republic of Germany