[en] The French fleet of reactors is made up of 58 pressurized water reactors (PWR). Before being loaded in the core of a reactor, the nuclear fuel comes from a long process, beginning in the mine and going through enrichment and the manufacturing of fuel assemblies. After a 4-year long irradiation in reactor, used fuels are unloaded, separated and packaged for final disposal. Separation allows the recovery of plutonium and uranium and their re-use as nuclear fuel in reactors. This article details every stage of nuclear fuel from mining to disposal via reprocessing. A graph shows how in 2013, the recovery of plutonium allowed the fabrication of 100 tonnes of mixed uranium and plutonium oxides fuel (MOX) and the recovery of uranium allowed the fabrication of 70 tonnes of re-enriched fuel (URE). The total amount of nuclear fuel required to feed 58 reactors is 1000 tonnes a year. (A.C.)

No abstract available

[en] Experimental reactor physics is an essential element of physics design of a nuclear reactor and plays an important role in the safe design and operation of nuclear reactors. Approximations in modelling the reactor using computer codes and the ‘uncertainty in the nuclear data’ that goes as input into these codes contribute to the uncertainty of the theoretically computed design parameters. Reactor physics experiments provide estimates of the uncertainty in the design by comparing the measured and computed values of these parameters. A thorium fuel cycle based advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR) is being designed in Reactor Physics Design Division, BARC. A zero power critical facility (CF) was commissioned to generate the experimental data for physics design validation of AHWR. A number of experiments were carried out in CF which includes the measurement of differential/integral parameters and various reaction rates. The covariance analysis of these measurement will be carried out to generate the relevant covariance matrices

[en] Plutonium recycling as currently implemented in the French nuclear fuel cycle leads to the storage of irradiated MOX fuel assemblies. Deploying a limited number of fast reactors (SFR) by the end of the century may limit the growth of this stockpile. This study investigates the possibility of replacing the initial fast reactors by so-called CAPRA reactors, which have fast reactor cores designed to consume significantly more plutonium than breeder reactors. The results show that CAPRA cores can lead to a significant decrease in the stockpile of spent PWR MOX fuel assemblies. However, their performances during a transition towards a closed fuel cycle are comparable to that of standard fast reactors. Further detailed analysis is required to try to find the optimal solution (reprocessing capabilities, fluxes of waste, ect). This document is composed of an introduction and the slides of the presentation.

[en] Authors discuss the issues of protection of fast reactors and relevant nuclear fuel cycles from the proliferation of nuclear weapons using knowledge, technology and materials of nuclear energy in military programs. The features of the closed nuclear fuel cycle of fast reactors to maintain the global nonproliferation regime in comparison with the non-closed cycle of thermal reactors are also discussed

[en] After a presentation of the context, situation and stakes of the nuclear sector, this document presents the five structuring actions which build up the strategic contract of this sector. These actions are to guarantee necessary abilities and expertise for an attractive, safe and competitive nuclear sector, to structure, by using digitalisation, the supply chain and the innovation approach within the sector, to promote a circular economy within the sector, to define tomorrow's nuclear reactors and future tools, to develop a global strategy for the sector at the international level, and to launch an approach to accelerate the transformation of the industrial tissue. For each of these actions, context, objectives, key points and State's main commitments for the sector are described, and key figures are proposed

[en] Nuclear Energy Data is the Nuclear Energy Agency's annual compilation of statistics and country reports documenting nuclear power status in NEA member countries and in the OECD area. Information provided by governments includes statistics on total electricity produced by all sources and by nuclear power, fuel cycle capacities and requirements, and projections to 2035, where available. Country reports summarise energy policies, updates of the status in nuclear energy programmes and fuel cycle developments. In 2017, nuclear power continued to supply significant amounts of low-carbon base-load electricity, in a context of strong competition from low-cost fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. Governments committed to having nuclear power in the energy mix advanced plans for developing or increasing nuclear generating capacity, with the preparation of new build projects making progress in Finland, Hungary, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Further details on these and other developments are provided in the publication's numerous tables, graphs and country reports. This publication contains 'StatLinks'. For each StatLink, the reader will find a URL which leads to the corresponding spreadsheet. These links work in the same way as an Internet link. (authors)

[en] The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of two plutonium-thorium (Pu,Th)O₂ fuel concepts on the electrical energy that could be generated by recycling plutonium from the spent UO₂ fuel from a fleet of one hundred 900-MWe-class Light Water Reactor (LWR) into a fleet of 700- MWe-class Pressure Tube Heavy Water Reactors (PT-HWRs). The fuels that were analyzed include a low-burnup option using 3.5 wt% PuO₂/(Pu,Th)O₂, giving an exit burnup of 23.6 MWthd/kg, and a high-burnup option using 4.5 wt% PuO₂/(Pu,Th)O₂, giving an exit burnup of 36.4 MWthd/kg. The scenario involved the deployment of plutonium recycling facilities. The scenario was implemented using the CYCLUS fuel cycle simulation tool set. The results show that the higher burnup (Pu,Th)O₂ fuelled PT-HWR fleet produced more electricity (183 TWe-days from 34 reactors) and burned more plutonium (69% reduction in Pu inventory) than the fleet with lower burnup fuel (156 TWe-days from 26 reactors, and 61% reduction in Pu inventory). This document is composed of an introduction and the slides of the presentation.

No abstract available

[en] A software-hardware complex with the possibility of simulating the functioning of technological processes with APCS in real and accelerated time is being developed as part of Project Breakthrough in order to determine the optimal operating regimes of the technological processes of the units in a closed nuclear fuel cycle. It makes possible monitoring and control functions and the visualization and archiving of the results of simulation, which makes it possible at the development stages of technologies to evaluate the degree of adherence to the requirements of the technological equipment, regulating organs and final-control mechanisms, measurement apparatus, and monitoring channels, to analyze the control and diagnostics algorithms, blocking and protection, and to make when necessary changes in the design being developed. The developed software-hardware complex is a stimulator that will make it possible not only to investigate process schemes with their corresponding algorithms but also to develop training complexes for the training and certification of service personnel.