Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section

Technical Working Group on
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options (TWGNFCO)


2003 Meeting

Date : 28-30 May 2003

Place : Vienna, Austria

Participants : 21 from 15 countries and 2 Int. Organizations.

Country/Organization Participant
ARMENIA Mr. A. GEVORGYAN
BELGIUM Mr. T.E. VAN RENTERGEM
Mr. H. BAIRIOT
CANADA Mr. P. BOCZAR
FRANCE Mr. D. GRENECHE
GERMANY Mr. J. BANCK
Mr. W.D. PERSCHMANN
HUNGARY Mr. G. BUDAY
INDIA Mr. S. GOVINDARAJAN
JAPAN Mr. Y. IKOMA
Mr. T. KAWATA
REPUBLIC OF KOREA Mr. S. P. KIM
SLOVAKIA Mr. M. LASCEK
SWEDEN Mr. H. P. GRAHN (new member)
SWITZERLAND Mr. H. BAY
UNITED KINGDOM Mr. M. DUNN
UKRAINE Mr. A. AFANASYEV
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Mr. J. C. BREESE
Ms. S. MCGUIRE
EC Mr. E. PLA
OECD/NEA Mr. P. WILMER

Agenda of the 2nd TWGNFCO Meeting

Wednesday, 28 May
10:00-10:15 Opening of the Meeting (K. Fukuda)
10:15-10:50 Chairman’s Remarks (H. Bay, Switzerland)

Introduction of Participants

Comments and approval of meeting agenda

General items (W. Danker)
10:50-11:30

Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section's Activities
11:30-12:30 Presentation by members of specific topic of national fuel cycle programs.

Specific topic as decided in the last meeting "Inter-dependence of fuel cycle options and repository design". Time period allocated for each presentation is 20 minutes, including discussion.

Presentation of nuclear fuel cycle programs by OECD/NEA and EC
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-17:30

Presentations continued from morning
18:00

Wine and Cheese Party, VIC Restaurant, FOE
Thursday, 29 May
09:30-12:30

Presentations continued from last afternoon
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-18:00 Discussion on Agency’s Fuel Cycle Programs:
  • Follow-up the recommendations made at the last IWG-NFCO (K. Fukuda)
  • Report and discussion on activities of spent fuel management (Subprogramme B.3) (K.Fukuda/W.Danker)
  • Report and discussion on activities of nuclear fuel cycle issues (Subprogramme B.4) (K. Fukuda)
  • Discussion on specific topics for the meeting in 2004
Friday, 30 May
09:30-12:30

Other IAEA and special activities:

  • Waste Management programme including WATEC (M.Al-Mughrabi)
  • TWG-FPT (V. Onoufriev)
  • Nuclear Fuel Cycle in INPRO (Y. Bussurin)
12:30-14:00

Lunch
14:00-17:00
  • Summary of the meeting
  • Review and agreement of drafted Summary and Conclusions (K.Fukuda/W.Danker)
  • Other business: next meeting (H. Bay, Chair and K. Fukuda)
  • Closing remarks (K. Fukuda)

Chairman's Summary of the 2003 TWGNFCO Meeting

The second meeting of the TWG-NFCO was convened on 2003 May 28-30 and attended by 18 delegates from 14 countries and representatives from the EC and the OECD/NEA, and the European Commission.

Mr. Fukuda, Head, Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section (NFC&MS) opened the meeting. In his opening remarks he has illustrated the inception and the role of TWG-NFCO. He has also discussed several issues viz., need for larger capacity of spent fuel storage and reprocessing owing to gradual accumulation of spent fuel, safety aspects in fuel storage facilities and use of innovative nuclear fuel cycle option with view to effective and prudent utilization of repository space.

Mr. Bay from Switzerland chaired the meeting. He recalled the specific topic selected for this meeting at last TWG-NFCO meeting “Inter-dependence of fuel cycle options and storage and repository design ”.

Mr. Bonne, Director of NEFW gave a brief review of Standing Advisory Group on Nuclear Energy (SAGNE) meeting which was held on 8-10 April 2003. Minor changes to the terms of reference of this TWG may emerge as result of future SAGNE meetings.

Mr. Fukuda presented the follow-up action of the first meeting report of the TWG-NFCO, which was held on 8-11 July 2002. He presented the activities of his section covering various subprogrammes for the previous year, future activities and activities deferred. The activities of TWG-NFCO were reviewed, and it was noted that they have yet to be approved by the SAGNE.

In the presentations by Member States, the specific topic of “Inter-dependence of fuel cycle options and storage and repository design” was addressed. In addition, some Member States presented an update on current status of their national programmes. The OECD/NEA, and European Commission also gave presentations on their activities related to nuclear fuel cycle. Generally, the need to correlate fuel cycle options, storage and repository design was of interest to several countries, and the effects on the backend of the cycle is being given consideration. Certain fuel cycle options were identified that have the potential of decreasing the required repository volumes and reducing the radiotoxicity of the waste, thereby helping in gaining the public acceptance of the nuclear energy.

As further background to the work of the TWGNFCO, presentations were given on other IAEA and special activities: