Supplying the European Research Reactors with Safe Low-Enriched Uranium Fuels for Their Conversion and Long-Term Operation to Secure the Supply of Medical Radioisotopes

Informazioni relative al progetto

EU-CONVERSION

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101163752

Data della firma CE 5 Giugno 2024

Data di avvio 1 Ottobre 2024

Data di completamento 30 Settembre 2028

Finanziato da

• Euratom Research and Training Programme (EURATOM)

Costo totale

€ 9 030 565,00

Contributo UE

€ 7 640 768,00

Coordinato da

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EU-CONVERSION (Supplying the European Research Reactors with Safe Low-Enriched Uranium Fuels for Their Conversion and Long-Term Operation to Secure the Supply of Medical Radioisotopes)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-10-01 al 2026-03-31

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

Europe is the world’s largest supplier and among the world’s largest users of medical radioisotopes. A secure supply of these isotopes is key to support a safe, high quality and reliable use of radiological and nuclear technology in healthcare. As most medical radioisotopes are produced by the European HPRRs (high-power research reactors) and MPRRs (medium-power research reactors), these reactors play a major role for the time-critical supply chain of these radioisotopes, but also for fundamental and applied research using neutrons. The proposed project EU-CONVERSION will contribute to securing these supply chains via the supply of safe low-enriched uranium fuels for the HEU to LEU conversion and long-term operation of the European research reactors. To facilitate their deployment, the project will generate the necessary trust at the nuclear regulators and technical support organizations for the challenges of the upcoming conversions, including the use of digital technologies and advanced computational methods in nuclear safety. In a long term, the knowledge and innovations created within this project will also contribute to the European strategic goals to maintain a world-leading innovative nuclear industry, and to increase the competencies in nuclear technology. To achieve these objectives, the proposed actions within EUCONVERSION include the consolidation of generic fuel qualification data together with two reactor-representative irradiation tests for HPRR conversions, the demonstration of sustainable and efficient European supply chains for advanced LEU research reactor fuels for HPRRs and MPRRs, as well as the establishment of modern computational methods for nuclear safety analysis and fuel performance modeling.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

During the first reporting period, the consortium made substantial progress in the technical activities of EU-CONVERSION, including fuel fabrication, irradiation testing, post-irradiation examination activities and modelling efforts supporting the development and qualification of advanced LEU fuel systems for European high-performance research reactors. In addition, disseminating activities were started as planned.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

N.A.