ATALANTE 2008: Nuclear Fuel Cycle for a Sustainable Future

The technical program will consist of invited plenary (on monday) and technical sessions on tuesday, wednesday and thursday, organized as below.

Plenary session: Status and prospects, national policies and international initiatives

Session 1: Progress and innovation in separation technology                       
State of the art of spent fuel treatments and partitioning will be presented in terms both of scientific and technological aspects. Scientific and technological challenges of both aqueous or pyro processes will be considered  ; presentations will deal either with lab-scale or pilot-scale experiments in this field.

Session 2: Advanced fuels and targets
For existing power plants, the fuel evolutions are linked to burn up increase and possible fabrication process improvements. For future reactors, the fuels and targets recycling minor actinides are focusing large R&D efforts. The program includes developments of innovative fuels such as refractory fuels for new concepts of fast reactors.

Session 3: Basic science for future fuel cycle                   
For addressing the challenges of advanced fuel cycles, basic actinide research about partitioning, in pile fuel behaviour and containment materials is necessary. For instance, new results are expected on the following topics: speciation and actinide chemistry in different media, solid-liquid interface chemistry, kinetics of reaction, solid state chemistry, multiscale modelling,...

Session 4: Waste conditioning and long term behaviour                    
Important R&D programs are conducted to adjust conditioning processes to wastes evolutions and disposal optimisation. Long term behaviour studies are important for safety demonstration and disposal optimisation.
Presentations will address recent results on conditioning processes, interim storage and long term behaviours for geological disposal.   
Glass is largely utilized for high and mid level waste, while ciment and bitumen are utilized for mid level waste. Direct disposal of spent fuel is also considered.

Session 5: Innovative analytical techniques                       
Development of innovative analytical techniques are of major importance with regards to the fuel cycle processes, knowledge and control of environmental impact and materials characterization.

Session 6: Nuclear facilities for fuel cycle research                       
Fuel cycle R&D requires large hot facilities. Presentations will deal with recent improvements or upgrading of existing facilities and about worldwide important projects of future facilities.
 
Session 7: Safeguards                       
For a sustainable development of nuclear energy, safeguards techniques are of major importance. Innovative technologies are under development and recent advances in the field of methodology, technology and implementation will be presented within this session.