Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation

13th Information Exchange Meeting

Seoul, Korea | 23-26 September 2014

Introduction

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) organised the thirteenth information exchange meeting on actinide and fission product partitioning and transmutation (P&T). The meeting was held in Seoul, Korea on 23-26 September 2014 [including a Technical Tour of KAERI Pyroprocess Pilot Facility (PRIDE) on Friday 26 September], hosted by Seoul National University and organised in cooperation with the European Commission (EC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Background

Partitioning and transmutation (P&T) is one of the key technologies for reducing the heat, radiotoxicity and volume of radioactive waste produced. Recent developments indicate the need for embedding P&T strategies into advanced fuel cycles considering both waste management and economic issues.

In order to give experts a forum to present and discuss state-of-the-art developments in the field of P&T, the OECD/NEA has been organising biennial information exchange meetings on actinide and fission product partitioning and transmutation since 1990. The previous meetings were held in Mito (Japan) in 1990, at ANL (United States) in 1992, in Cadarache (France) in 1994, in Mito (Japan) in 1996, in Mol (Belgium) in 1998, in Madrid (Spain) in 2000, in Jeju (Korea) in 2002, in Las Vegas (United States) in 2004, in Nîmes (France) in 2006, in Mito (Japan) in 2008, in San Francisco (United States) in 2010 and in Prague (2012).

Scope

The meeting covered scientific, as well as strategic/policy developments in the field of P&T, such as:  

  • fuel cycle strategies and transition scenarios;
  • role of P&T in potential evolutions of role of nuclear energy in future energy mix;
  • radioactive waste forms;
  • impact of P&T on geological disposal: criteria and results;
  • radioactive waste management strategies (including secondary wastes);
  • transmutation fuels and targets;
  • advances in pyro and aqueous separation processes;
  • P&T specific technology requirements: materials, spallation targets, coolants, etc.;
  • transmutation physics, experiments and nuclear data requirements and validation;
  • transmutation systems: design, performance and safety;
  • impact of P&T on the fuel cycle: fabrication, handling and transportation of transmutation fuels;
  • economics of P&T.

These topics included multi-scale modelling, experiments and instrumentation, novel theories and benchmarks.

Programme

The programme is available for download.

The meeting consisted of a plenary session, followed by technical sessions (listed below) and a poster session covering the above technical subjects.

At the summary session, reviews and findings of each technical session were presented by the session chairs.

Technical sessions:

  • fuel cycle strategies and transition scenarios (including international collaborations);
  • potential benefits of P&T on waste disposal (including waste form and geological disposal);
  • advanced nuclear fuel recycling: aqueous and pyroprocessing;
  • transmutation fuels and targets;
  • transmutation systems and infrastructure.

Scientific advisory committee


Dominique Warin (CEA, France) Il Soon Hwang (SNU, Rep. of Korea)
Massimo Salvatores (CEA, France) Han Soon Lee (KAERI, Rep. of Korea)
Hamid Aït Abderrahim (SCK-CEN, Belgium) Gary Dyck (IAEA)
Robin Taylor (NNL, UK) Nathalie Chauvin (CEA, France)
Christian Ekberg (Chalmers, Sweden) Kazuo Minato (JAEA, Japan)
Jan Uhlir (Czech Republic) Temitope Taiwo (ANL, United States)
Tadafumi Koyama (CRIEPI, Japan) Concetta Fazio (KIT, Germany)
Jean-Paul Glatz (ITU, EC) Myung-Hyun KIM (Kyunghee University, Rep. of Korea)
Dmitry Klinov (IPPE, Russian Fed.) Terry Todd (INL, United States)
Mikhail Kormilitsyn (RIAR, Russian Fed.) Byung-Il CHOI (Korea Radwaste Corp., Rep. of Korea)

Workshop Secretariat:

Prof. Il Soon Hwang
SNU Nuclear Transmutation Energy Research Center of Korea
Seoul National University
56-1 Shinlim-dong, Gwanak-ku,
Seoul, 151-742

Email:

Dr. Stephanie Cornet,
OECD Nuclear Energy Agency
Le Seine St-Germain
12 bld des Iles
92130 Issy-Les-Moulineaux, France

Email:


Last reviewed: 15 July 2015