The main objective of the consultants’ meeting was to provide the opportunity for an exchange of information on the status of the IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on “Studies of Advanced Reactor Technology Options for Effective Incineration of Radioactive Waste”. This CRP was initiated upon expressed Member States’ needs to deepen the understanding of the dynamics of transmutation systems, e.g. the accelerator driven system, especially systems with deteriorated safety parameters, qualify and specify the range of validity of the available methods to simulate and design such systems, and formulate requirements for future theoretical developments.

The participants in the second Research Coordination Meeting (RCM) of the CRP (hosted by the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Hefei, China, 22–26 November 2004) felt that the time interval between the second and the third RCM was too long, and suggested that this informal consultants’ meeting be held to keep going the momentum of the CRP work.

The consultants’ meeting reviewed the status of the various benchmarks, discussed inter-comparisons of the various benchmark results, discussed and agreed on remaining activities, and defined the work plan, responsibilities, and deadlines for drafting the final CRP report.