[en] Mixed oxide nuclear fuel is now commercially well established. The engineering infrastructure is ready to cope with current demand and is taking steps to widen the applications of MOX fuel by, for example, increasing burnup. The DEMOX plant has more than come up to expectations, and the European MOX industry is ready to expand capacity if demand continues to grow. (author)

[en] Considerable uranium-plutonium mixed-oxide (MOX) experience was developed by U.S. companies from 1960 to 1975. Most of the work involved plutonium with high 239 isotopic content. This material is therefore similar to the isotopic concentration of current weapons-grade plutonium under consideration for MOX production. A summary of some of the activities performed within the United States is provided in this paper

[en] Safeguards in the European Community in the 1990s can be characterized both through the way it will cope with the increased availability of and use of plutonium and through the approaches aimed at improving the efficiency of the safeguards operation. The discussion on safeguards goals, criteria or inspection guidelines needs to be re-opened and their interaction with the availability of resources needs to be clarified. For the new large plutonium plants, modern safeguards systems have been developed and are under implementation which, while using known concepts, provide for a shift from operation costs to investment costs due to the introduction of unattended measurement and surveillance stations. Given these developments and their progressive implementation it is expected that the required rationalisation of Euratom safeguards will take place while maintaining its effectiveness

[en] The Superphenix sub-assembly consists of 271 pins containing mixed oxide fuel. The upper and lower axial blanket are integrated into the pins. Details of design and specifications are given. The first core was fabricated by the plutonium fuel fabrication complex at Cadarache

[en] A neutron field characterisation was conducted at the AREVA Melox Plant to determine the response of passive and active neutron dosemeters for several stages in the mixed oxide fuel manufacturing process. Landauer Europe provides radiation dosimetry to many contractors working at the Melox site. The studies were conducted to assist in determining the neutron radiation fields the workers are exposed to routinely, evaluate the need for specific neutron correction factors and to ensure that the most accurate neutron dose is reported for the Melox Plant workers. (authors)

[en] Advance Fuel Fabrication Facility is a facility of BARC at Tarapur for fabrication of Plutonium based Mixed Oxide fuel. Consideration of glove box design, process equipment design and automation system for Plutonium based fuel fabrication line starts at the stage of planning of the flow sheet and layout. The process flow sheet and layout of the fabrication line is frozen for a continuous process in series in such a way that flow of material remains unidirectional and as much as possible in a straight line at a fixed comfortable operational elevation. Since the layout for the fuel fabrication line is decided for a continuous process in series, glove boxes are installed as a train and are intercommoned to each other by tunnel and adopter panels. The process equipments of fuel fabrication line require material feeding and transfer of intermediate product to next equipment for processing till the final product, fuel pin, get fabricated. So for continuous processing of the material a combination of automation system as well as custom designed and design modified equipment to suit to glove box adaptation is required. This paper describes the present scenario and scope for improvement in MOX fuel fabrication line and highlights the advantages

[en] Mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel has been fabricated at the Belgonucleaire (BN) Dessel plant for light water reactor (LWR) demonstration and fast breeder reactor programs since 1973. In 1986, the plant was refurbished, its capacity was increased to the current nominal capacity, and the fabrication process was changed. The reason was that the product (pellets) had to meet the requirements of our customers, i.e., the fuel designers and the electricity producers: pellet specifications, fuel quality, and fuel dissolution properties. At the same time, the industrial throughput had to be achieved, while the plant had to work on a purely commercial basis

[en] Information is given concerning the different ways and techniques applied during the decommissioning of glove boxes and equipment inside the BELGONUCLEAIRE Mixed Oxide fuel fabrication plant. Ways and techniques have been selected on the basis of the glove box dimensions, the capability of being removed out of the building and/or being transported on the public road, the inner contamination level etc.... Different techniques applied are explained. (author)

[en] CEA's Cadarache centre has two main plants: Atelier de Technologie du Plutonium (ATPu) and Laboratoire de Purification Chimique (LPC). To fabricate PWR MOX fuel, modifications for pelletizing were necessary. A specific route using FBR experience and called COCA was developed to conform to pellet specification from Fragema and is described. The physical and chemical characteristics of the MOX fuel are briefly discussed

[en] Plutonium is a radioactive by-product of nuclear reactor operation and one of the most toxic substances known. The world would be a safer place if the governments of countries with stocks of it, including Britain, would adopt effective policies for reducing and managing them. Two recent authoritative reports recommend that the British government take urgent action to reduce its 'civil' plutonium stock - currently one quarter of the world's total and set to rise to about two-thirds by the year 2010. The March 1999 House of Lords report, Management of Nuclear Waste, concludes that British government policy on plutonium 'should be the maintenance of the minimum strategic stock, and the declaration of the remainder as waste'. A report from the Royal Society, Britain's main learned society, meanwhile states that: 'In addition to disposing of some of the plutonium already in the stockpile, steps should be taken to reduce the amount added to it each year, primarily by reducing the amount of reprocessing carried out'. The government's reply to the House of Lords is expected to be followed by a public consultation before changes in legislation are proposed. But, at the same time, the government is considering an application from British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL), the government-owned company which separates plutonium from spent nuclear fuel rods, for a licence to operate a new plant at Sellafield in Cumbria to produce mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel from its plutonium stockpile. The nuclear industry justifies the Sellafield MOX plant as one way of reducing plutonium stocks. But critics point out that this is not a rational way to manage plutonium. This briefing aims to contribute to an informed debate during the current flurry of British government nuclear policymaking by explaining why. (author)