Synthesis, irradiation and qualification of advanced fuels

Nuclear fuels are exposed to extremely severe operating conditions, including high temperatures and high temperature gradients, damage by neutrons and fission products, changing chemical composition and modified mechanical properties. The understanding of this plethora of effects is essential in the safety assessment of the fuels. Fuels (oxides, nitrides, carbides and inert matrices) for fast neutron reactors (SFR, LFR, GFR, ADS, as outlined by SNETP and ESNII) are the main focus, covering their synthesis, property determination, irradiation, post irradiation examination (PIE) and performance modelling. Integration and leveraging of the modelling with fundamental studies (SP6) is an essential component towards the full understanding of the performance of these materials.