Plutonium fuel fabrication for PWRs and BWRs

From the early 1960s, in parallel with developments in fast-neutron reactors, interest began to focus on the use of plutonium in water reactors (pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and boiling water reactors (BWRs)). In 1963, the first MOX assembly, manufactured in Dessel (Belgium) at Belgonucléaire's (BN) P0 plant, was introduced into BR3, a Belgian pressurized water reactor (PWR). This experience preceded the introduction of significant quantities of plutonium fuel into industrial reactors: Garigliano (BWR) in Italy in 1968 and Chooz (SENA PWR) in France in 1974. Recycling continued in Germany, with NUKEM (later KWU) manufacturing in the MOX workshop at the Hanau site, then really took off industrially after 1984, when COMMOX was created between BN and COGEMA, with the first refill delivered to EDF in 1987 and loaded into a 900 MWe PWR at Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux.

Readers are also referred to the articles :

• BN 3 630 – Plutonium fuel fabrication ;

• BN 3 660 – Radioactive waste. Management.