Project description
Novel strategy for nuclear fuel recycling
Multi-recycling in light water reactors (LWRs) can further improve the circular economy and accelerate progress towards fuel cycle closure. However, this option has several shortcomings, which could potentially be overcome by introducing the promising fast spectrum molten salt reactor (MSR) using chloride salts that serve as both the reactor’s coolant and fuel. This type of nuclear reactor has not been examined and tested yet in real-life conditions. To address this issue, the EU-funded MIMOSA project intends to develop a multi-recycling strategy for LWR spent fuels based on MSRs and existing European infrastructures and then compare it with other strategies. To speed up the deployment of MSRs, the project will also demonstrate key aspects of their technical feasibility and performance.
Objective
Multi-recycling in LWRs is a tangible solution enhancing further the circular economy and moving towards the closure of the fuel cycle. However, this option presents some limitations related to the degradation of the Pu isotopic composition and the generation of minor actinides (MA), leading to an increase of vitrified high-level waste when compared to multi-recycling with FRs, thus limiting its benefits from a repository footprint perspective.
Significant improvement in converting all the Pu isotopes and MA into fission products with shorter half-lives can be achieved with the introduction of advanced reactor systems, among which the molten salt reactor (MSR) using Chloride salt is particularly promising. In this reactor, the fuel is a fluid, eliminating the major technological bottlenecks of refabrication of solid fuels with high transuranic content.
There is no experience of Chloride MSRs (Cl MSR) in operation, but it was studied and tested on experimental set-ups, showing a great improvement in the conversion rate of actinides.
For these reasons, MIMOSA aims to develop an accessible, cost/risk optimised multi-recycling strategy of LWR spent fuels, based primarily on multi-recycling of Pu (and REPU) in LWRs combined with the Cl MSR, and using already available infrastructure in the EU such as the French reprocessing plant, not only for its existing LWR fuel treatment capabilities, but also for its Pu partitioning and waste conditioning capabilities, its compatibility with chloride salts, and in the future, for its potential additional capabilities in MA separation and salt management. This strategy will also be compared with other multi-recycling scenarios.
MIMOSA focus more specifically on the demonstration of several key aspects of technical feasibility and performance of Cl MSRs, that will contribute to accelerating the deployment of this advanced technology, on Pu and MA conversion respectively and on production of valuable isotopes for other applications
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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EURATOM2027 - Euratom Research and Training Programme (EURATOM)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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EURATOM.1.1.2 - Safe spent fuel and radioactive waste management
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EURATOM.1.1.1 - Nuclear safety
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
EURATOM-RIA - EURATOM Research and Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-EURATOM-2021-NRT-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
92320 Chatillon
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.