A new generation of nuclear reactor designs is being developed in order to meet the needs of the 21st century. In the short term, the most important objective is to improve competitiveness in the deregulated market. For this purpose evolutionary light water reactors are being developed and...

During irradiation, nuclear fuel changes volume, primarily through swelling. This swelling is caused by the fission products and in particular by the volatile ones such as krypton and xenon, called fission gas. Fission gas behaviour needs to be reliably predicted in order to make better use of...

Although the recycling of plutonium as thermal mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel in pressurised water reactors (PWRs) is now well-established on a commercial scale, many physics questions remain. The main question addressed in this report is the number of times plutonium can effectively be recycled in a...