6 October 2002, Seoul, Korea

Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland, 15-16 October 2001

Rossendorf (Dresden), Germany, 28-30 May 2002

The international benchmark concerned pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics transients based on the PBMR-400MW design.

The aim of the benchmark is to improve understanding and modelling of pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) amongst NEA member organisations. This is achieved by comparing PCMI predictions of...

For nuclear utility companies that opt to reprocess spent fuel, recycle it or do both, one of the main pertinent issues is plutonium recycling.

Attitudes towards plutonium management vary from country to country and from utility to utility: some regard plutonium as a liability and others as a valuable source of energy.

The purpose of this st...

The quality of the isotopic composition of plutonium fuel degrades as the number of recycles increases in thermal reactors. There are in addition incentives to better utilise fuel by increasing the b...

The quality of the isotopic composition of plutonium fuel degrades as the number of recycles increases in thermal reactors, requiring an increase in the total loading necessary in mixed plutonium-ura...

Studies on fast reactors have historically concentrated on their capability of using plutonium produced in thermal reactors as initial fuel, and subsequently their capacity to produce electricity whi...