EUropean QUalification Approach for Low EnrIched Fuel sYstems for secure production supply of medical isotopes

Project Information

EU-QUALIFY

Grant agreement ID: 945009

DOI

10.3030/945009

EC signature date 14 May 2020

Start date 1 October 2020

End date 31 May 2027

Funded under

• Euratom

Total cost

€ 9 044 296,25

EU contribution

€ 7 798 926,00

Coordinated by

STUDIECENTRUM VOOR KERNENERGIE / CENTRE D'ETUDE DE L'ENERGIE NUCLEAIRE
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EU-QUALIFY (EUropean QUalification Approach for Low EnrIched Fuel sYstems for secure production supply of medical isotopes)

Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The EU remains the major world operator of high-performance research reactors (HPRRs) and supplier of medical radioisotopes. Low-enriched uranium (LEU) is key to ensure the secure supply of research reactors’ fuel and medical isotope targets in compliance with the Euratom’s international commitments on non-proliferation. Among the many challenges for each of the research reactors, securing their nuclear fuel supply is one of the most important challenges. In this project the EU support for RR fuel development is continued for three of the most promising LEU fuel systems with the additional specific objective to secure the future supply chain of medical isotopes (and research reactor services in general). Improving the understanding of the general fuel performance, optimizing the fabrication processes, verifying the performance by irradiation experiments, PIE, and finally improving the modelling capabilities is envisaged to lead to ‘general’ and future reactor-specific fuel system qualification.

This report has the objective to clarify the current status of the project reporting period 3, i.e. 36-60 months into the project. The fabrication development of the dispersion fuels (UMo and U3Si2) are covered in WP2; monolithic UMo fuel fabrication development is covered in WP3. The irradiations are performed in WP4, PIE and qualification data and modeling are covered in WP5. Education, dissemination and training is covered in WP6.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Tasks that were delayed by the COVID pandemic, have now been mostly recovered. The delays in the UMo dispersion fuel fabrication of the EF3 (WP2) has been tackled by project amendment. The silicide mixed elements (DEUS and CHARTREUSE, WP2) have been fabricated, transported and irradiated at the BR reactor. Also the UMo monolithic fuel system (FM1) has now successfully been fabricated, transported and irradiated at the BR2 reactor. The delayed UMo dispersion fuel system is currently the only irradiation experiment remaining. The fabrication delays have had direct impact on some deliverables and tasks downstream, e.g. the irradiation experiment itself and the following post irradiation evaluation. The project Amendment 2 is including task swapping with the EU project EU-CONVERSION to reach the full project scope.

In WP1 the project is coordinated according to the latest amendment. In WP2, the fabrication has been successfully completed for the silicide fuel system but the UMo dispersion fuel plates (EF3) are still not completed. The fuel meat powder has though successfully been heat treated and transported to SCKCEN for coating. In WP3, the monolithic UMo fuel fabrication (FM1) hwas finalized and transported to BR2 for the irradiation experiment. In WP4, both the Mixed elements (silicide)( and the FM1 (monolithic) have been successfully completed. The delays in fabrication for EF3 is expected to be solved in time to perform the irradiations as defined in the amendment. In WP5 the fuel modeling and fuel database activities have been finalized and the MAIA code in the months to come to be distributed for use within the consortium. In WP6, the dissemination seminars, summer school and the PhD have been progressing well.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Fuel Qualification Focus: Moves beyond previous R&D (HERACLES-CP, LEU-FOREvER) by not only developing LEU fuels but fully qualifying three advanced fuel types: Dispersed U-Mo, Monolithic U-Mo and High-loaded dispersed U₃Si2.
Integrated Fabrication & Qualification: Introduces qualification of pilot manufacturing equipment and processes, ensuring industrial readiness for larger scale LEU fuel production.
Representative Irradiation Conditions: Advances testing by performing irradiation under realistic reactor conditions, improving reliability of performance predictions compared to earlier irradiation experiments, e.g. miniature plate experiments
Comprehensive Post-Irradiation Examination (PIE): Goes beyond basic irradiation tests by implementing detailed PIE and modeling of in-pile behavior, supporting robust safety analyses for LEU conversion.
Strategic Impact: Directly addresses security of nuclear fuel supply for European HPRRs, ensuring continuity of medical isotope production critical for global healthcare.
Industrial Capability Qualification: EU-QUALIFY explicitly aims to qualify the capability to fabricate fuels, bridging the gap between R&D and industrial deployment

Figure 1. EU-QUALIFY Project Structure