1. General presentation

1.1 Evolution

MOX, Mixed Oxides mixed oxide of uranium and plutonium (UO ₂ - PuO ₂ ), is today an industrial product used as nuclear fuel by several power plant operators around the world: Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France.

The development of plutonium recycling in power reactors has occurred at the same time as the development of this industry.

As early as the 1950s, scientists agreed that recycling plutonium in fast breeder reactors (FBRs) was the best way to make the most of this fissile material's properties.

During the same period, a major international program for the use of plutonium in pressurized water reactors...