The
13th annual topical meeting on Research Reactor Fuel Management (RRFM) will take place in Vienna ( Austria ) from 22. – 25.
March 2009.
The
RRFM 2009 Programme Committee and the European Nuclear Society (ENS)
are NOW calling for presentations.
Call for Papers
Oral papers
and poster presentations
are invited on
- All
key areas of the nuclear fuel cycle of Research Reactors - Fissile
material supply. Fresh fuel and targets: Origin and status, qualification,
fabrication. Technical aspects of fuel in-core management and safety.
Fresh and spent fuel transportation. Fuel and reactor licensing.
Spent fuel storage, corrosion and degradation. Fuel back-end management.
Innovative methods in research reactor analysis.
NEW –in
2009 the scope of the programme will be extended to the following subjects:
-
Utilization
of Research Reactors – Preparation
and implementation of strategic and business plans, deployment
of additional research reactor applications and marketing of research
reactor services. Utilization experience and good practices, especially
from well utilized research reactors. Stories of success in improving
research reactor sustainability. Utilization of research reactors
for research, development, education, training and industrial applications.
Articulation and operation of research reactors networks, coalitions
and centres of excellence. Experiences of successful application
of strategic planning in the transition from full government support
to total or partial facility self-sustainability and self-reliance.
-
Research Reactor Support for Innovative Nuclear Power
Reactors and Fuel Cycles – Research reactor utilization in support of
international initiatives on innovative nuclear power reactors
and fuel cycles, including inter alia the International Project
on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO), Generation
IV International Forum (GIF), the US DOE Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative
and the US Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Examples of
advanced research carried out in research reactors in support of
these multilateral undertakings. Identification of research reactor
capabilities needed by the international initiatives on innovative
nuclear power reactors and fuel cycles. Identification of challenges,
constraints and capability gaps potentially limiting research reactor’s
ability to provide necessary support.
-
New
Research Reactor Projects – National
and regional plans for new research reactors. Lessons learned from
building and operating new research reactors. Role of research
reactors in developing nuclear competence to implement nuclear
power programmes in a medium to long term perspective. Research
reactor capacity needed to meet the future demand for radioisotopes
for medicine and industry. Development of national and regional
infrastructure necessary to implement new research reactor projects,
including inter alia organization and management, uses and applications,
funding and financing, stakeholder involvement, legislative framework,
regulatory framework, nuclear safety, environmental protection,
security and physical protection, safeguards and human resources.
-
Research Reactor Operation and Maintenance– Plant material condition control, managing
issues at either end of the facility 'bathtub curve' (commissioning,
early operation and end of life/ageing related issues), maintenance
assessments and risk informed maintenance programmes, management
systems, configuration management, procedure utilisation, communications
and work control, design review and control, human resource development
and training programmes, regulatory interface, public relations,
management improvement programmes and performance monitoring.
