DAEJEON — Nuclear fuel experts from around the world have gathered in Daejeon to share progress on international joint research verifying fuel performance and safety and to explore ways to expand cooperation.
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) said on the 20th that the regular meeting of FIDES, or the Framework for Irradiation Experiments, an international joint research program on nuclear fuel run by the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/NEA), is being held at the Lotte City Hotel in Daejeon from Oct. 19 to 23.
The event was jointly prepared by a Korean consortium made up of KEPCO Nuclear Fuel and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power under KAERI's leadership.
FIDES is a multinational research program in which regulators, research institutes and industry from participating countries work together to secure test and evaluation data, modeling and simulation results, and benchmarking data for analysis codes, all essential to research on nuclear fuel and materials.
The most important element of nuclear fuel and materials research is qualification, or proving performance and safety under actual operating conditions. Under FIDES, participating countries are carrying out a range of joint studies using their research reactors and various test facilities.
From April 2027, a research topic proposed by the Korean consortium is set to begin as an international joint study. The project, called FAST-GAS, for Fuel burnup Acceleration teSTing for the evaluation of fission GAS release behavior of advanced fuels, will assess fission gas release behavior in next-generation nuclear fuel.
The study will use HANARO, KAERI's research reactor, to evaluate fission gas release behavior, a key indicator of fuel performance and safety, through accelerated testing.
About 100 nuclear fuel experts from 14 countries including the United States, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Czech Republic are attending the meeting, the largest turnout to date.
It is the first time Korea has hosted a FIDES regular meeting. The FIDES board selected the country in recognition of its technological strength in nuclear fuel and materials and the level of interest among member states.
The participants represent regulators, research institutions and industry in their respective countries, and will share the status of each joint research program and discuss future direction.
KAERI also plans to showcase its main research facilities, including HANARO, the Irradiated Materials Examination Facility (IMEF), the Hot-cell Material Aging Property test facility (H-MAP) and the Advanced Thermal-Hydraulic Test Loop for Accident Simulation (ATLAS), to highlight the country's research and development capabilities in nuclear fuel and materials.
Kim Dong-joo, head of KAERI's light water reactor fuel technology research division, who led the international meeting, said, "Hosting the FIDES meeting in Korea is the result of recognition of our nuclear fuel technology and our role in the international community." Kim added, "We will work to make Korean nuclear fuel technology a global standard."