NEA Mandates and Structures


Expert Group on Innovative Fuels

Chair(s): Nathalie CHAUVIN, France
Secretary:  Gabriele GRASSI
(gabriele.grassi@oecd-nea.org)
Member(s):All NEA member countries*
Russia (Suspended*)
*Russian Federation suspended pursuant to a decision of the OECD Council.
Full participant(s): European Commission
Under the NEA Statute
Observer(s)(International Organisation): International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
By agreement
Date of creation:01 June 2008
End of mandate:05 February 2021

Mandate (Document reference):

  • Summary Record of the 6th meeting of the Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle held on 30 April 2018 [NEA/SEN/NSC/WPFC(2008)2]
  • Summary Record of the 21st meeting of the Nuclear Science Committee held on 9-11 June 2010 [NEA/SEN/NSC(2010)3]
  • Summary Record of the 9th meeting of the Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle held on 15 February 2012 [NEA/SEN/NSC/WPFC(2012)2]
  • Summary Record of the 12th meeting of the Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle held on 19 February 2014 [NEA/SEN/NSC/WPFC(2014)2/REV1]
  • Summary Record of the 27th meeting of the Nuclear Science Committee held on 22-24 June 2016 [NEA/SEN/NSC(2016)2]
  • Summary Record of the 15th meeting of the Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle held on 8 February 2017 [NEA/SEN/NSC/WPFC(2017)2]
  • Summary Record of the 17th meeting of the Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle held on 6 February 2019 [NEA/SEN/NSC/WPFC(2019)1]
  • Mandates of the Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle (WPFC) and its Expert Groups  [NEA/SEN/NSC/WPFC(2019)2]

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract from document [NEA/SEN/NSC/WPFC(2019)2]

Objectives and scope

Under the guidance of the Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) and the mandate of the Working Party on Scientific Issues of the Fuel Cycle (WPFC), the objective of the Expert Group on Innovative Fuels (EGIF) is to conduct joint and comparative studies to identify technical issues and support the development of innovative fuels that can be implemented in advanced nuclear fuel cycles.

The scope of the expert group covers the technical issues associated with the development of innovative fuels (oxide, metal, nitride and carbide fuels, and special mechanical forms) targeted for use in advanced fuel cycles and Generation IV systems. The fuel types of interest for EGIF are those foreseen for driver fuels (i.e. uranium or uranium-plutonium fuels) as well as fuels dedicated to minor actinides (MA) transmutation considered for advanced fuel cycles and Generation IV systems.

The following technical issues associated with innovative fuels development are covered by the expert group:

  • Innovative fuels fabrication techniques
  • Irradiation performance of innovative fuels (including advanced clad materials)
  • Characterisation and post-irradiation examination methods
  • Predictive models/codes for innovative fuels’ behaviour and performance
  • Phenomenological experiments in support of model development or validation
  • Properties (thermo-physical) of fuels

Activities

R&D on innovative fuels

  • Generate status reports on various fuel technologies
  • Qualify methodologies
  • Develop a process to the technology readiness level for various technologies
  • Study the needs for fuels qualification and code validation
  • List R&D activities needed to advance fuel qualification
  • Undertake scientific and technology watch on experimental results (post-irradiation examination, etc.)

Irradiation results and benchmark with fuel performance codes:

  • Share irradiation data
  • Perform code-to-code, code-to-experiment benchmark studies on fuel behavior under normal and off-normal conditions
  • Define and propose standard benchmark cases for fuel performance codes
  • Define experimental benchmarks as well as phenomenological tests to compare characterisation and Post-irradiation examination (PIE) techniques and results
  • Compile an experimental database

Fuel Properties

  • Identify properties needed for fuel performance codes
  • Share data on each fuel property (literature and experimental data)
  • Analyse and recommend for each property, the law, the application domain and associated uncertainty
  • Develop a database

Relationships with other bodies

The expert group will liaise closely with other NEA bodies, in particular the Expert Group on Reactor Fuel Performance (EGRFP), the Expert Group on Uncertainty Analysis in Modelling (EGUAM) of the Working Party on Scientific Issues on Reactor Systems (WPRS), the Working Party on Multi-scale Modelling of Fuels and Structural Materials for Nuclear Systems (WPMM), the Expert Group on Accident-tolerant Fuels for Light-water Reactors (EGATFL) and the Expert Group on Integral Experiments for Minor Actinides Management (EGIEMAM) in order to ensure the respective work programmes are complementary, to provide advice and support where required and to undertake joint work where appropriate.

In addition, the expert group will work in co-operation with other international organisations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Commission (EC).

Deliverables

The deliverables of the EGIF will be the following:

  • Report on benchmark on fuel performance codes for fast reactors (Phase 1 and Phase 2).
  • Preliminary recommendations on fuel properties.
  • Database on fuel properties (thermo-physical): development of the structure and contents.