The group provided NEA member countries with up-to-date information on and developed a consensus regarding:

• core and fuel cycle issues associated with weapons-grade plutonium disposition in thermal water reactors (PWRs, BWRs, VVER-1000s and CANDUs) and fast reactors (BN-600), including:
  • core physics
  • fuel performance and reliability
  • the capability and flexibility of thermal water reactors and fast reactors to disposition weapons-grade plutonium within standard fuel cycles
• thermal water reactor, fast reactor fuel designs and fuel management approaches for maximising:
  • weapons-grade plutonium disposition rates
  • fuel cycle flexibility and the ability to accommodate variable weapons-grade plutonium disposition rates
• thermal water reactor and fast reactor weapons-grade MOX fuel handling issues, including:
  • criticality
  • nuclear and thermal characteristics of spent fuel
  • packaging and transport of fresh and spent fuel

Furthermore, the expert group provided advice to the nuclear community on the scientific and technical developments needed to meet the requirements (e.g. data, methods and validation experiments) for implementing weapons-grade plutonium disposition approaches. Co-ordination with complementary studies performed by other groups was also established.