Composite fuels. Defining a strategy for better Pu utilization in PWRs

After a description of the French context dominated by the accumulation of plutonium, and the international context in which the tendency is towards the disappearance of plutonium reserves and the destruction of minor actinides, a few solutions selected in the framework of the Innovating Fuels programme are presented. The aim is to burn the surplus Pu by means of fuel in inert matrices since, in addition to the increased burnup, the absence of plutonium generating conversion must be considered. The experiments intended to qualify selected CERCERs and CERMETs are presented and discussed, the feasibility of CERMET UO2 and MOX cores is established. Things are more complicated for PuO2 CERMET and we show that, in order to optimize loading, a dedicated heterogeneous assembly has to be defined. The Advanced Plutonium Assembly (APA) is presented. The last part of this article is devoted to the first fabrication tests on these very particular fuels and to the definition of reference accidents liable to affect 'cold' fuels such as CERMETs. (author)