Chair(s): |
David GODDARD, United Kingdom |
Secretary: |
Alice DUFRESNE (alice.dufresne@oecd-nea.org) |
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Vice-Chair(s): |
Michel FREYSS, France | ||
Member(s): | All NEA member countries* | ||
Russia (Suspended*) | |||
*Russian Federation suspended pursuant to a decision of the OECD Council. | |||
EU participation: |
The European Union (EU) takes part in the work of the NEA, in accordance with the NEA Statute and the Supplementary Protocol to the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. | ||
Observer(s)(International Organisation): |
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) By agreement | ||
Date of creation: | 15 January 2023 | ||
End of mandate: | 31 December 2024 |
Mandate (Document reference):
Mandate (Document extract):
Extract of document NEA/NSC/WPFM(2022)2
Background
At the invitation of the NEA Steering Committee to all NEA standing technical committees, the Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) launched a prioritisation exercise in 2020. As part of this process, the NSC mandate was revised and NSC activities were prioritised and restructured in order to improve efficiency and maintain the high standard of NSC deliverables, while addressing activities according to the priorities indicated by the member countries. As a result of the prioritisation effort, NSC activities were reformed under the guidance of the NSC Bureau. This has resulted in the consolidation of additional fuel and structural materials activities into the Working Party on Materials Science Issues in Nuclear Fuels and Structural Materials (WPFM). Under the WPFM, two new bodies will cover materials science aspects, one related to nuclear fuel (Expert Group on Fuel Materials or “EGFM”), and one related to structural materials (Expert Group on Structural Materials or “EGSM”).
Scope
Under the guidance of the NSC and under the mandate of the WPFM, the work of EGFM will cover materials science aspects of nuclear fuel. As such, it will advance multi-scale modelling and simulation together with experimental activities. The EGFM will address all fuel types, both fuel materials currently deployed in the nuclear fleet and envisaged for future fission reactors, as well as advanced fuels, such as oxide, metallic, nitride, carbide, silicide, composite fuels, and relevant cladding issues, etc.
Objectives
The EGFM will:
Working methods
The EGFM is a forum for discussion and information exchange. By promoting joint activities at the international level, it fosters collaboration among experts involved in the experimental and computational studies by doing the following:
The EGFM will report its progress at the annual meeting of the WPFM.
Membership
The EGFM is both a forum for international exchanges between experts and a task-oriented expert group that is composed of a diverse range of specialists in the field of fuels. The expert group consists of specialists in multi-scale modelling and simulation of nuclear fuel as well as specialists in experiments at multiple scales that relate to nuclear fuel.
Interactions
The EGFM will liaise closely with other NSC subsidiary bodies in order to ensure coordination of their respective programmes of work and provide advice and support, where required, and undertake common activities, where appropriate. Information exchanges and collaborations will be established with the following working parties and expert groups:
For information exchange and mutual support through sharing of expertise and advice, the EGFM will liaise with materials science-related NEA joint undertakings such as the Thermodynamics of Advanced Fuels – International Database (TAF-ID), the Thermodynamic Characterisation of Fuel Debris and Fission Products Based on Scenario Analysis of Severe Accident Progression at Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (TCOFF), and the Accident Tolerant Fuel cladding bundle testing at QUENCH facility in KIT, Germany (QUENCH-ATF).
The EGFM will exchange information with FIDES-II and support its activities (especially with respect to modelling and simulation of fuel material behaviour under irradiation) when relevant and in compliance with their data dissemination policy. The efforts will involve providing advice on the prioritisation of the data needs for the parameterisation and validation of nuclear materials modelling and simulation tools, and expertise on the analysis and interpretation of post irradiation experiments.
The EGFM will work closely with the NEA Data Bank on database and knowledge preservation activities.
The EGFM will collaborate with industry representatives, as relevant, and international organisations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Commission (EC) and the Generation IV International Forum (GIF).
Deliverables
The EGFM will publish reports and journal articles stemming from EGFM activities. The EGFM will cover the following topic areas:
Specifically, the EGFM will: