[en] In France the complete closure of the fuel cycle can be reached in 3 steps. The first step relies on the improvement of the present fuel cycle by implementing the use of reprocessed uranium (URT) and by enlarging the use of MOX fuel from 900 MW to 1300 MW PWR. The first loading of URT fuel is planned in 2023. The second step will be the multi-recycling of plutonium. The loading of a test fuel assembly with multi-recycled Pu in a PWR core could be made in 2025-2028 and the industrial deployment may be made in 2040 at the soonest. The third step implies the development of a fleet of fast reactors that will allow a limitless recycling of spent fuels and no necessity of using enriched natural uranium. (A.C.)

No abstract available

[en] The amount of plutonium produced is estimated. A survey of fuel cycles employed to date and of the use of plutonium is set up. The existing safety analyses are registered and characterized. Possible fuel cycle alternatives are registered, the state-of-the-art in the various fuel cycle concepts are examined, intervention of third parties and subnational deviation are discussed. (DG)

[en] A recent Evaluation and Screening (E/S) study of nuclear fuel cycle options was conducted by grouping all potential options into 40 Evaluation Groups (EGs) based on similarities in fundamental physics characteristics and fuel cycle performance. Through a rigorous evaluation process considering benefit and challenge metrics, 4 of these EGs were identified by the E/S study as 'most promising'. All 4 involve continuous recycle of U/Pu or U/TRU with natural uranium feed in fast critical reactors. However, these most promising EGs also include fuel cycle groups with variations on feed materials, neutron spectra, and reactor criticality. Therefore, the impacts of the addition of natural thorium fuel feed to a system that originally only used natural uranium fuel feed, using an intermediate spectrum instead of a fast spectrum, and using externally-driven systems versus critical reactors were evaluated. It was found that adding thorium to the natural uranium feed mixture leads to lower burnup, higher mass flows, and degrades fuel cycle benefit metrics (waste management, resource utilization, etc.) for fuel cycles that continuously recycle U/Pu or U/TRU. Adding thorium results in fissions of ²³³U instead of just ²³⁹Pu and in turn results in a lower average number of neutrons produced per absorption (η) for the fast reactor system. For continuous recycling systems, the lower η results in lower excess reactivity and subsequently lower achievable fuel burnup. This in turn leads to higher mass flows (fabrication, reprocessing, disposal, etc.) to produce a given amount of energy and subsequent lower metrics performance. The investigated fuel cycle options with intermediate spectrum reactors also exhibited degraded performance in the benefit metrics compared to fast spectrum reactors. Similarly, this is due to lower η values as the spectrum softens. The best externally-driven systems exhibited similar performance as fast critical reactors in terms of mass flows, but they face much greater challenges, including higher waste generation and higher economic and development costs associated with the external neutron supply. Therefore, any fuel cycle option within the most promising EGs that include thorium in the feed mixture, involves intermediate spectrum reactors, or uses externally-driven systems will be less promising than the reference fast spectrum critical reactor with only natural uranium feed. (authors)

[en] Items discussed included: 1. Progress reports from the Japanese/British Technical Secretariat, contributing countries and organisations. Task 1: Collection of basic data. Task 2: Current methods of plutonium storage. Task 3: Current methods of plutonium transport. Task 7: Plutonium recycle: Base case. 2. Numbering and distribution of papers

[en] A brief overview on the Thorium fuel cycle technology will be described first. Based on the published information, the potential advantages and technical characteristics of the Thorium fuel utilization technologies are described in detail. Special emphasis will be placed on the technological feasibility and maturity of the methods to examine the practicability of their actual implementation in the near future. Then, realistic and possible ways to the deploy of the Thorium fuels utilization are discussed in terms of both value of the implementation and the technological feasibility and practicability. (author)

[en] Items discussed included: 1. Co-Chairmen's report on the June 1978 Technical Co-Ordinating Committee. 2. Task 1: Collection of basic data. Task 2: Current methods of Pu storage: Base case. Task 3: Current methods of plutonium transport: Base case. Task 7: Plutonium recycle: Base case. Task 8: Assessment of base case for plutonium recycle. 3. Assessment of base cases. 4. Tasks 4 and 5: Technological alternatives for plutonium storage and transport. 5. Task 9: Plutonium recycle - reactor alternatives. 6. Task 6: Alternative institutional arrangements. 7. Preparation of report on the tasks. 8. Task 11: Plutonium recycle - reprocessing alternatives

[en] The items discussed include the assessment of proliferation resistance, safeguards and alternative institutional arrangements

[en] Based on the reference case of a mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility this paper defines various improvements or different plutonium fuel concepts which could reduce proliferation risks and yield economy in processing. The paper considers in turn: co-location, co-conversion and co-processing. It concludes that co-location and co-conversion could be successfully applied in the medium term on an industrial scale

[en] The results of three studies sponsored by the Atomic Industrial Forum are summarized. The studies dealt with legal aspects, economic impact, and safeguards considerations of the NRC provisional plan for plutonium recycle. (DG)