NEA Mandates and Structures

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

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
• Agreed by written procedure following the 25th Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety meeting in July 2021 [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2021)16, in preparation]
• Mandate of the Technical Review Group for the International Assay Data of Spent Nuclear Fuel Database (SFCOMPOTRG) [NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2021)1]

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract from document NEA/NSC/WPNCS/DOC(2021)1

Mandate

Background

Under the direction of the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS) of the Nuclear Science Committee (NSC), the Technical Review Group for the International Assay Data of Spent Nuclear Fuel Database (SFCOMPOTRG) will review the available measurements of nuclide inventory of spent nuclear fuel, especially in OECD member countries.

Scope

The SFCOMPOTRG will collect new nuclide inventory measurement data, their associated operating history data and any data relevant for the modelling of the measured samples, and prepare corresponding SFCOMPO entries. The SFCOMPOTRG will analyse the database in order to assess the current situation and the need for new experimental data.

The members of the SFCOMPOTRG will interface with specialists in their own country and in other international communities to identify and obtain new data to be included in SFCOMPO database and made available to the public.

The SFCOMPOTRG 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 will support the archiving of the experimental reports to be made available via the NEA website.

The SFCOMPOTRG 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 SFCOMPOTRG will:

1. support the design of future experiments by identifying the minimum requirements for fuel characterisation and operating history data to qualify the  measured samples;
2. maintain and enhance the SFCOMPO database, in both its content and features, and investigate the addition of other spent fuel related measurements such as decay heat; and
3. improve the quality of experimental data by performing and documenting peer-reviewed evaluations of the experimental data sets.

Objectives

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

• Preservation of data: One of the main objectives of the SFCOMPOTRG 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 SFCOMPOTRG, 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 nuclide assay data will be developed by the SFCOMPOTRG. Similar guidelines have already been established for the qualification of benchmark data by the Technical Review Group for the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEPTRG) for criticality experiments, and by the International Reactor Physics Experiments Evaluation Project Technical Review Group  (IRPhETRG)  for reactor physics benchmarks.

Working methods

The SFCOMPOTRG will report to the Working Party on Nuclear Criticality Safety (WPNCS) and will meet on average once per year, and interim meetings will be organised as needed.

Interactions

The SFCOMPOTRG will work closely with the WPNCS and its bodies as well as with the NSC. In particular, the SFCOMPOTRG will collaborate with other subsidiary bodies of the NSC developing and using databases of integral experiments, such as the ICSBEPTRG, and the IRPhETRG. Furthermore, given the key role of assay data in many different areas involving spent nuclear fuel, collaboration will be ensured with the following topics and bodies:

• the nuclear data through the Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Co-operation (WPEC) under the NSC; and the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion Nuclear Data Library Co-ordination Group (JEFF) under the Data Bank Management Board for the Development, Application and Validation of Nuclear Data and Codes (DB/MBDAV); the fuel cycle scenarios through the Working Party on Scientific Issues of Advanced Fuel Cycles (NSC-WPFC) and the Expert Group on Advanced Fuel Cycle Scenarios (WPFC-EGAFCS);
• the deep geological disposal of long-lived and high-level radioactive waste through the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSC);
• the preservation and dissemination of assay data through the NEA Databank under the auspices of the MBDAV. 

Deliverables

• Collect, capture, format, and include new experimental assay data in the SFCOMPO database;
• Explore expanding the type of data, to include other spent fuel related measurements such as decay heat, in the SFCOMPO database;
• Prepare, review and publish evaluation reports.