NEA Mandates and Structures


Technical Review Group for the International Assay Data of Spent Nuclear Fuel Database

Chair(s): Germina ILAS, United States
Secretary:  Shuichi TSUDA
(shuichi.tsuda@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:31 January 2007
End of mandate:29 June 2021

Mandate (Document reference):

  • Agreed by written procedure following the Nuclear Science Committee bureau meeting in December 2006 [NEA/NSC/DOC(2006)25]
  • 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 23rd meeting of the Nuclear Science Committee held on 13-15 June 2012 [NEA/SEN/NSC(2012)3]
  • Summary Record of the 16th meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 21 September 2012 [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2013)6]
  • Summary Record of the 19th meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 8 July 2015
  • Summary Record of the 21st meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 26-30 June 2017, [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2017)2]; name changed, formerly the Expert Group on Assay Data of Spent Nuclear Fuel
  • Summary Record of the 23rd meeting of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety held on 27 September 2019 [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2020)1] (forthcoming)
  • Mandate of the Technical Review Group for the International Assay Data of Spent Nuclear Fuel Database (SFCOMPO) [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2019)10]

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract from document NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2019)10

Mandate:

Under the direction of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS), the Technical Review Group (TRG) for the International Assay Data of Spent Nuclear Fuel Database (SFCOMPO) will review the available measurements of isotopic composition of spent nuclear fuel, especially in OECD member countries. The TRG will collect new isotopic composition measurement data, their associated operating history data and any data relevant for the modelling of the measured samples, and prepare corresponding SFCOMPO entries. The TRG will analyse the SFCOMPO database in order to assess the current situation and the need for new experimental data.

The members of the TRG will interface with specialists in their own country and in other international communities to identify and obtain new data to be included in SFCOMPO and used by the public.

The TRG will collect and archive original reports on data included in the SFCOMPO database and add supporting technical references that were used in the original development. The NEA Secretariat services will be used to archive the experimental reports to be made available via the NEA website.

The TRG will provide technical advice in support of radiochemical assay data  activities in member countries and promote international collaboration in order to expand the measurement data that are publicly available. The TRG will:

  1. support the design of future experiments by identifying the minimum requirements for fuel characterisation and operating history data to qualify themeasured samples;
  2. maintain and enhance the SFCOMPO database, in both its content and features; and
  3. improve the quality of experimental data by performing peer-reviewed evaluations of the experimental data sets.

Scope and Objectives

Under the guidance of the WPNCS, the TRG has identified the following main areas under which it will conduct activities:

  • Preservation of data: One of the main objectives of the TRG is to ensure the preservation of existing assay data and to continuously capture new data as it becomes available. It is important to capture and document both the operator’s and experimentalist’s knowledge of the conditions under which the samples and measurements were obtained, while such information is still available.
  • Accessibility of data: Experimental data are made accessible to users in a standardised format through the SFCOMPO database. As improvements are identified by the TRG, the database and its interface tools will be adapted accordingly.
  • Evaluation of assay data: This significant and challenging objective seeks complete documentation of data sets, including all relevant design and reactor operating data, as well as an independent, peer-reviewed assessment of these data. This review process is intended to vet the data for potential errors and produce qualified data suitable for use in code validation.
  • Knowledge transfer: Guidance for the evaluation of isotopic assay data will be developed by the TRG. Similar guidelines have already been established for the qualification of benchmark data by the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) for criticality experiments, and by the International Evaluated Reactor Physics Experiments Evaluation Project (IRPhE) for reactor physics benchmarks.

Deliverables

  • Collect, capture, format, and include new experimental assay data in the SFCOMPO database;
  • Expand the type of data for spent nuclear fuel in the SFCOMPO database;
  • Prepare, review and publish evaluation reports.

Meeting frequency

The Technical Review Group will meet on average once per year.

Links to other NEA bodies

Given the importance of assay data to many different areas involving spent nuclear fuel, the TRG will collaborate, beyond WPNCS members representing the nuclear criticality safety community, including with ICSBEP, IRPhE, the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI), the Working Party of Reactor Systems (WPRS) and the Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSC), which is the main technical advisory body to the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) on the deep geological disposal of long-lived and high-level radioactive waste.