Plutonium Management for More Agility

Project: EU project

Project Details

Description

The PUMMA project will define different options for Pu management in Generation-IV systems and evaluate the impact on the whole fuel cycle in addition to safety and performance aspects. Fast neutron reactors with the associated fuel cycle strategy have been chosen to cope with these options because they are flexible: they offer the possibility of isogeneration, burning or breeding of plutonium. A wide range of Pu content (20 to 45%) corresponds to the highest concentration that can be encountered for plutonium multirecycling (~30-35% Pu to compensate degraded isotopic composition) and targeted plutonium burning (40-45%). The fuel cycle scenarios associated with the different strategies will be evaluated at different stages of the cycle in terms of impact on the facilities. These studies will be completed with dissolution tests as there is currently no dissolution data on fuels with very high plutonium contents. Studies to date have been limited to concentrations of less than 30%. Today, knowledge on MOX fuel behavior in Generation-IV reactors comes mainly from feedback on SFRs that have operated in the past in Europe, with Pu contents varying between 15% to 30% and Linear Heat Rate often in the 300 to 450 W/cm range. This knowledge is insufficient to cover future needs, whether in terms of reactor concepts (GFR, LFR, F-SMR ...), Pu management option or operating regime. PUMMA will provide complementary results on fuel properties and characterisations of 45%Pu-fuels irradiated in HFR and Phénix under nominal conditions and overpower. The safety standards will then be extended to this fuel composition as well as the fuel performance code validation. PUMMA will make the link between Europe and others international organisations: the fuel cycle studies at IAEA and OECD, the GEN-IV systems at ESNII and GIF, the fuel material studies at OECD. PUMMA will provide common data in E.U. for Pu management on : fuel cycle, fuel behavior, fuel properties and safety st-
AcronymPUMMA
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/10/2030/09/24

Collaborative partners

  • VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
  • Jacobs Clean Energy Limited (Project partner)
  • Électricité de France S.A. (EDF) (Project partner)
  • Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) (Project partner) (lead)
  • National Nuclear Laboratory (Project partner)
  • Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Project partner)
  • LGI Consulting (Project partner)
  • VUJE a.s. (Project partner)
  • Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre for Energy Research (mtaEK) (Project partner)
  • Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) (Project partner)
  • Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) (Project partner)
  • National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) (Project partner)
  • Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN) (Project partner)
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (Project partner)
  • Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) (Project partner)
  • Polytechnic University of Milan (Project partner)
  • Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) (Project partner)
  • Framatome SAS (Project partner)
  • Nuclear Research Institute Řež plc (ÚJV Řež a.s.) (Project partner)
  • Joint Research Centre (JRC), Brussels (Project partner)

Funding category

  • EU-H2020

Keywords

  • NFRP-2019-2020
  • Nuclear related engineering
  • ALFRED-burner: Core design, safety and performance

    Jaramillo-Sierra, D., Grasso, G., Dorval, E., Magni, A., Cammi, A. & Del Nevo, A., Feb 2025, In: Nuclear Engineering and Design. 432, 113826.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    Open Access
  • Design and performance assessment of the Alfred Burner variation

    Sierra, D. J., Magni, A., Grasso, G., Cammi, A., Dorval, E. & Del Nevo, A., 2023, Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering "Nuclear, Thermal, and Renewables United to Provide Carbon Neutral Power", ICONE 2023. American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 194585. (International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE), Vol. 2023).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingsScientificpeer-review