Proceedings of an International Conference, Kyoto, Japan, 7–11 December 2009
IAEA, VIENNA, 2012 p.410
Fast spectrum nuclear reactors with recycle significantly enhance the sustainability indices. The fast spectrum allows increasing the energy yield from natural uranium by a factor of sixty to seventy compared with thermal reactors, theoretically extending nuclear power programmes for thousands of years as well as significantly improving nuclear waste management. It is for this reason that fast reactors and associated fuel cycle research and technology development is, in many countries, back on the agenda of research and industrial organizations, as well as academia.
The way forward is tied to clear objectives, leading to the commissioning of experimental fast reactors (CEFR in China in 2010), the restart of the industrial prototype (Monju) in Japan in 2010, the commissioning, around 2012–2013, of power fast reactors in India and the Russian Federation (PFBR and BN-800, respectively), the planned construction, around 2020, of the French prototype fast reactor ASTRID (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration) and further advanced demonstration and commercial fast reactor construction projects in 2020–2050 in China, Europe, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation.
For more than 40 years, and in fulfilment of its statutory functions as outlined in Article III.A.1 – 3, facilitating research and technology development at the IAEA is being achieved through the mechanism of the Technical Working Groups, specifically, in the case of fast reactor and corresponding fuel cycle research and technology development, the Technical Working Group on Fast Reactors (created in 1967 as the International Working Group on Fast Reactors) and the Technical Working Group on Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options. The main aim of the Technical Working Groups is to provide a forum for exchange of non-commercial scientific and technical information and for international cooperation on generic research and technology development projects, and to enable scientists and engineers from research centres, industry and academia to share best practices globally.
In response to the expressed needs for an appropriate forum to achieve the twin objectives of exchanging experience and innovative ideas among experts, and of sharing knowledge and mentoring, the IAEA, after almost 20 years since the last large international conference dedicated to fast reactors and their fuel cycle, convened on 7–11 December 2009 in Kyoto, Japan, an International Conference on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles: Challenges and Opportunities (FR09). The high expectations and interest in the conference were confirmed by the record attendance of 622 experts from twenty countries and three international organizations. This publication represents the proceedings of the conference.
