RRFM 2009 Transactions - European Nuclear Society

QUALIFICATION PROGRAM FOR JHR FUEL ELEMENTS
M-C. ANSELMET (1) , P. LEMOINE (2) , D.IRACANE (2)
(1) CEA– Cadarache, 13108 St Paul lez Durance – Cedex – France
(2) CEA– Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette – Cedex – France
E. KOONEN, P. BENOIT
SCK–CEN, Boeretang 200, B –2400 Mol - Belgique
I. CAILLIERE, P. COLOMB, T. PIN
AREVA-CERCA*, les Bérauds, B.P. 1114, 26104 Romans – Cedex – France
S. BRISSON, S. GUILLOT
AREVA–TA, 1100, av JR Guilibert de la Lauzière, 13593 Aix-en-Provence– France
ABSTRACT
The Jules Horowitz reactor (JHR) is the CEA new high performance material test
reactor (MTR). Its startup is planned for the beginning of 2014. The reference fuel
for the JHR is the UMo fuel as a high density, low enriched and reprocessable fuel,
and CEA is deeply involved in the international collaboration for the development
of this fuel. Moreover, the qualification and licensing of such a fuel is not expected
to be ready for the startup of the JHR. Therefore, the CEA is qualifying a back-up
solution, to ensure the first power operations of the reactor. This paper presents
the status of the qualification program at the beginning of 2009, with a focus on
manufacturing and qualification under irradiation.
1. Introduction
The European material test reactors (MTR) are ageing and will reach more than 50 operating
years in 2015. This situation cannot ensure the securing of experimental capability for the
next decades. In this context and in the framework of an international partnership, the CEA
has launched the JHR project in order to construct a new high performance MTR whose
purpose will be to study material and fuel behaviour under irradiation with experimental
capabilities relevant for different power reactor technologies and generation. It will also
contribute to securing the production of radioisotopes for medical applications.
To meet these needs, the JHR has been designed for a maximum power core of 100MW
with flexibility for operation at lower power levels in order to perform irradiations
corresponding to with the demand. It will allow the performance of a significant number of
simultaneous experiments in core and in reflector. Maximum performances are obtained at
100MW core operation with the reference core loaded with 34 fuels elements in a core rack
with 37 cells (Fig 1).
Due to this performance level, the JHR requires a high density of fissile material and the
reference fuel for the JHR is UMo fuel with uranium density of 8g/cm 3 and 20% 235 U
enriched. It is for this reason that the CEA is deeply involved in the international collaboration
on UMo fuel development. Moreover, UMo is not yet available as an industrial product
qualified for JHR operation, and CEA is qualifying a back-up fuel solution for the first power
operations of the JHR. This back-up fuel solution is U 3 Si 2 particles dispersed into an
aluminium matrix. UMo fuel dispersed into aluminium will replace U 3 Si 2 as soon as it
becomes available.
*AREVA-CERCA, a subsidiary of AREVA NP, an AREVA and SIEMENS Company
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