Plutonium and minor actinides management in the nuclear fuel cycle: assessing and controlling the inventory

The mastering of the plutonium and minor actinides inventory in the French Nuclear Cycle is based on a progressive approach from the present status, dealing with the partial reprocessing of spent fuels and the recycling of Pu in the MOX assemblies loaded in the 20 licensed PWRs. This strategy keeps the door open long-term, for example, for the eventual multirecycling of excess Pu in dedicated new assemblies, such as APA or CORAIL in order to stabilise the Pu inventory in the fuel cycle or allow its utilization in new types of fast reactors. Presently, in the framework of 1991 law, scenario studies relying on present and/or innovative technologies are carried out in order to transmute both Pu and minor actinides, thus minimising the quantities to be for disposal. To cite this article: H. Mouney, C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 773–782.