MX 8: THE NEXT GENERATION IDGH CAPACITY SYSTEM FOR THE TRANSPORT OF FRESH MOX FUEL

The choice of reprocessing policy was made a long time ago in France, leading to the development of an advanced Pu recycling industry. In 1987, Saint Laurent was the first French reactor to be loaded with fresh MOX fuel. Transnucleaire, then in charge of transport packaging development, created the FS 69 concept, derived from the classical RCC concept for the transport of U02 fresh fuel. On the other hand, COGEMA, as the main actor in the field of fuel cycle and thus in transport matters, developed the associated security truck and security caisson in order to provide the transport system with the acceptable Physical Protection devices required by French Authorities. As a whole, the security truck and the FS 69 have now been used for more than ten years with a remarkable level of efficiency and safety. Indeed, more than 600 fresh MOX fuel elements have been delivered. without any incident, both regarding safety or fuel integrity requirements. But, as a matter of fact, the replacement of FS 69 transport system is now scheduled for several reasons. First of all, the burnups achieved with uo2 fuel progressed together with its enrichment within the last ten years, and the MOX \"equivalence\" also implies that its Pu content be increased to enhance its reactor performances: from 5.25 % of Pu content today, the MOX fuel will reach 7 % tomorrow, and almost 10% the day after tomorrow.