Research activities on radioactive waste management and on the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle performed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
The Euratom Research and Training Programme contributes, within its portfolio of activities, to establish and improve the scientific basis of knowledge for the safe management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. This includes
research and innovation activities undertaken by the Joint Research Centre (or JRC, the European Commission’s science and knowledge service) in its laboratories. This paper provides an overview and some highlights of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) activities which are dedicated to the safety of spent fuel and high level radioactive waste forms. The fields of experimental and modelling research address various stages of spent fuel management after discharge from the reactor core: cooling in the spent fuel pool; handling, transport, extended interim storage and retrieval
thereafter; disposal in a deep geological repository and long term behaviour of the spent fuel/waste form after disposal. The safety of the “back-end” of nuclear fuel
cycles which include U-Pu recycling and/or a “fully closed” cycle with minor actinides separation and transmutation is also a major area of research. Both normal operation and accident scenarios, which cause fuel degradation/melting, are investigated. Possible applications for legacy waste management, decommissioning, and safeguards are considered. The relevance of the research is linked to the possibility
of investigating “real” spent fuel and highly radioactive compounds using JRC’s research infrastructure, which includes hot cells and shielded facilities, and state of
the art experimental methods that are (in some cases) rare or even unique. The activities are performed in collaboration with partners and/or in the context of international initiatives. Opportunities and perspectives for enhanced cooperation, including access and sharing of infrastructure are being developed
