THE SAFEGUARDING OF MOX FUEL FACILITIES IN EUROPE: A REALITY

The propose of this paper is to m-view MOX fabrication developments, with emphasis on the relevant safeguards implications, and to provide a summary of the experience gained by plant operators and safeguards inspectors, shared within the framework of the EMRDA (European Safeguards Research and Development Association) MOX Fuel Fabrication Working Group. Nuclear reactor fuel containing plutonium is not a{ # fundamentally new development in nuclear tech ogy since - the applied techniques are the result of lengthyexperience in producing Uranium oxide fuel. Manufacture of MOX fuel as such has also been practised in Europe for over 30 years. (Today, MOX fabrication marries well established fuel .~abrication processes with mature plutonium management techniques. all uranium containing fuels take on “MOX similar” characteristics during irradiation. The plutonium generated accounts for roughly 40 % of the electricity produced during Light Water Reactor (LWR) operation. Consequently, the possibility of loading of mixed plutonium and uranium oxide fuel into such reactors has accordingly been considered from an early stage. At the same time, safeguarding of plutonium in large bulk handling facilities does not break new ground. The necessary approaches and techniques have been developed progressively over these thirty years, in Europe and in Japan for ~processing plants, MOX fabrication plants and reactors using MOX fuel. The required development of new instruments or techniques accompanied the advances made by operators in design and operation of their facilities, handling large quantities of plutonium and uranium.