Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

Interdisciplinary Programme

Programme sur l’Aval du Cycle et l’Energie Nucléaire(Nuclear Energy and Backend Programme)

Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

French Context• Renewal of interest for Nuclear Energy

– Energy independence - Limitations on fossil fuel resources - Climate change issues - Limited potential or renewable energies - Anticipation of increased electricity needs (trains, urban transportation, heat pumps, hybrid or electric cars) - Additional energetic options (heat, H2 production, second generation agrofuels)

• Major actors in the field of nuclear energy– Research (CEA, ANDRA)– Safety (ASN, IRSN)– Industry (AREVA, EDF)

• Two laws - on Energy (2005) et – on nuclear waste management. Definition of national research programme (2006 -> 2015)– Separation, Transmutation, GEN-IV & geological storage– Explicit request to CNRS to setup a programme with a view to

organizing at the national level the activities of the academic community (CNRS + Universities) on these subjects.

Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

PACEN – Goals, Scope & Organisation• Goals : Mobilizing competences of Academia on

– Future Nuclear Energy (Scenarios, GEN-IV reactors, reprocessing, innovative materials for extreme conditions)

– Nuclear waste management (Confining Materials, Transmutation, underground storage, environmental issues)

– Civil nuclear energy related sociology issues– Formation via research.

• Scope : Involved scientific communities– Nuclear Physics– Chemistry and Material Sciences– Mathematics– Earth Sciences– Social Sciences

• Organization : PACEN structure– IN2P3 ensures global overview of PACEN program on behalf of CNRS– Collaboration frameworks on major scientific themes with industry and research

centers (France and Europe)– Independent initiatives on specific subjects

Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

• Nuclear Data for the Energy Production Cycles

• Accelerator Driven Systems

• Molten Salt Applications to Nuclear Energy

• GEN-IV systems dynamics and scenarios

• High intensity accelerators (see. J.L. Biarotte talk)

PACEN – Nucl. Physics Related Activities

Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

Nuclear Data for Energy Production Cycles- There is need for improvement of international Nuclear Data Tables - for the numerical simulation of the behavior of future reactors (GEN-IV) - for the evaluation of the transmutation potential of fast reactors and ADS- The need concerns fission, capture and (n,xn) cross sections - for the U-Pu cycle with a particular emphasis on transplutonium actinides - for the Th-U cycle -The (near) impossibility of direct measurements has led to experimental and theoretical improvements - Development of indirect (surrogate) methods whith potential transposition to basic research on exotic nuclei properties - Reexamination of the theoretical understanding of compound nuclear formation as well as fully microscopic description of fission process.

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Experimental SitesGELINA (Geel)AIFIRA (Bordeaux)NTOF (CERN)Tandem (Orsay)near futureNFS (GANIL) (2011)

Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

GENEPI III Accelerator

VENUS subcritical reactor

Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS)- ADSs may significantly reduce the radiotoxicity of nuclear waste.- IN2P3 teams work on demonstrating the viability of the three main components of ADS - High intensity accelerators (see J.-L. Biarotte talk) - Spallation neutron source : - MEGAPIE Project @ PSI (2007) (1MW target) - Preliminary design of window free target + experiment “WebExpIr” - Subcritical reactor : operation and criticity control - MUSE @ MASURCA (Cadarache) (2000-2004) - GUINEVERE @ SCK-MOL (EUROTRANS) (2009)

GUINEVERE

MEGAPIE Target

-IN2P3 participates to the preliminary technical design of the MYRRHA project @ (demonstrator of ADS technology & irradiation installation)component of SNE-TP (2012) (FP7 Central Design Team project)

Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

- There is presently a need for increased simulation capacity - to investigate detailed properties of future reactors (systems) - normal operation, - incidental and accidental excursions - to evaluate the viability of nuclear scenarios (steady & transition states) - an analysis of fluxes of all matters (radiotoxicities, heat loads) in a (possibly multi-component) reactor fleet - calculation of requirements (safety capacity) on all installations of the cycle (fuel fabrication, reprocessing, transportation, interim storage, geological storage)

- IN2P3 teams have developped probabilistic versatile codes for moderated and fast reactors (neutronics + thermal-hydraulic) - for solid fuel reactors (U-Pu or Th-U) – MURE (2009 registered on NEA code basis) - for liquid fuel reactors (Th-U) – REM

- Nuclear Scenario Evaluation Code - the OSCAR code has been developped and tested - via collaboration with CEA, IN2P3 can operate COSI code

- IN2P3 is in charge of the national evaluation of ADS involving scenarios (multi-strata) of Th-U cycle scenarios of « symbiotic » multi-component scenarios

Nuclear Systems and Deployment Scenarios

Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

Thorium Cycle & Molten Salt Reactors

The IN2P3 teams have developed a novel concept of non moderated Th-MSR (TMSR) - It can act either as a breeder or a MA incinerator - It has been retained in the international GEN-IV « Strategic Research Agenda »

Incineration of G-III spent fuel inventory- Plutonium two orders of magnitude-Np, Am & Cm one order of magnitude

Madrid Jan12 2009

H. Flocard

Summary- Under the supervision of IN2P3, the CNRS has launched a comprehensive research program PACEN in relation to civilian nuclear energy.

- PACEN is concerned by all upstream research themes associated with future nuclear energy (GEN-IV systems) and waste management (including ADS) It involves most scientific communities within the CNRS and French universities from mathematics to social sciences

- PACEN actions are defined in coordination with and for the most part co-financed by the major french actors of the field (CEA, ANDRA, IRSN, EDF, AREVA) and european partners (FP7)

-The IN2P3 teams play an important role (~25%, ~30m.y/y of involved manpower) within PACEN. IN2P3 physicists work in strong interaction with engineers, chemists and material scientists and researchers from other (French and European) organizations.

- As far as the IN2P3 community is concerned, PACEN supports its activities on - Nuclear Data production and evaluation - Accelerator driven systems - Numerical simulation of reactors and deployment scenarios of nuclear fleets - Application of molten salt technology to nuclear energy - High intensity accelerators

-PACEN strives to maintain a constant and strong relation between its applied activities and basic nuclear science.