NUCLEAR ENERGY DIVISION Key Figures*
4 208 employees
including...
2 811 1 397 Nuclear men women Energy Division spread over 4 centres Within the CEA, the Nuclear Energy Division (DEN) provides 1 104 the French government Paris-Saclay and industry with technical expertise and innovation in nuclear 15 power generation Grenoble systems to develop 1 375 sustainable nuclear Marcoule energy that is both 1 714 safe and economically Cadarache competitive.
To meet these objectives, the DEN is engaged in three main areas of investigation: Optimising the current nuclear industry; Developing nuclear systems of the future – dubbed 485 “4th generation” reactors – scientific publications and their fuel cycles; Developing and operating large experimentation and simulation tools needed for its research programmes. 25 301 As nuclear operator, the DEN also post-doctoral has to manage and upgrade its own doctoral candidates fleet of nuclear facilities. It carries researchers out numerous construction and refurbishment programmes on its facilities, together with clean-up and dismantling programmes 43 for those that have reached the end patents filed of their service life.
* 2017-2018 Future Major tools industrial for developing nuclear nuclear energy Jules Horowitz Reactor currently under construction.
systems Research on current or future nuclear systems Modelling to support 4th-generation fast reactor design. requires specific experimental and simulation tools. For this reason, the DEN is developing Major facilities supporting The Nuclear Energy Division (DEN) is currently and making use of a comprehensive, coherent fleet the programmes working on the 4th generation of fast reactor systems of experimental facilities. In the field of simulation, Back-end of the future fuel cycle The research conducted by the DEN on reactor physics, Optimising the current for the future. Their development is needed to better the DEN is developing codes in all the main fields meet requirements with respect to secure energy nuclear safety and the fuel cycle rely on experimental The research on the fuel cycle for the future aims to assess of nuclear science in order to model the phenomena supplies and energy independence. facilities such as research reactors, hot labs and techno- nuclear industry all the options available for managing nuclear materials for involved in a reactor. logy platforms. This fleet of facilities is undergoing a major Irradiated materials laboratory. the future reactor fleet, as well as the technologies for refurbishment and optimisation programme to meet the The DEN is conducting research to address the challenges facing its industrial partners. These systems can optimise the material management recycling these materials. This is being done in accordance evolving regulatory and research programme requirements. with the Act dated 28 June 2006 on the sustainable ma- The first objective is to support EDF and Framatome in increasing the competitiveness process thanks to the possibility of better exploiting ura- nagement of radioactive materials and waste. Numerical simulation of the French fleet currently in operation. The second objective, in collaboration nium resources, while enabling the multiple recycling of plutonium and minimising radwaste production. with Orano and Andra is to optimise or adapt the front-end and back-end facilities The DEN is developing software platforms and simulation Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) of the nuclear fuel cycle. codes in all the main fields of nuclear energy (neutronics, Basic scientific thermal-hydraulics, thermal-mechanics, fuels, fuel cycle The construction of the JHR at Cadarache is a major pro- chemistry and materials) to model the complex pheno- 4th generation reactors and technological research ject for the CEA. The JHR is the only reactor of its type mena that occur in normal or accident operation of a being built in Europe. It will provide a unique tool for nd rd reactor or nuclear facility. Most of the codes developed Front-end of the fuel cycle 2 and 3 generation reactors The French government has tasked the CEA with conduc- Basic scientific and technological research focuses on studying materials and fuels under irradiation to support th by the DEN are used by the French nuclear industry. They ting research on innovative “4 generation” nuclear activities that are upstream of applied research, by resol- current and future nuclear reactors. It will also be used to The front-end of the fuel cycle includes the industrial The DEN is conducting research to support the current 2nd have been distributed to international R&D organisations, reactor systems. The CEA is therefore leading the design ving cross-functional issues through other fields covered produce a sizeable fraction of the radioisotopes needed operations associated with preparing uranium for use in generation of French pressurised water reactors (PWRs) mainly accompanying collaborations, under a large num- studies for an integrated technology demonstrator of a by the DEN. Driven by dynamic collaborations, this re- for medical purposes. The JHR project is funded via the reactors, from mining through to enrichment. The DEN is and the deployment of 3rd generation reactors. Research ber of licensing agreements. sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) called Astrid, whilst search helps improve the foundations and the scientific French future investments programme and is being built therefore working not only to improve the performance is mainly led in collaboration with EDF, Framatome and continuing its technology watch and R&D activities on quality of knowledge needed to establish the relevance within the scope of an international consortium, with the of the selective extraction, purification and conversion of IRSN. It addresses industrial issues such as improving th other relevant technologies for this 4 generation. of solutions recommended to solve the main issues of CEA as project owner, nuclear operator and contracting uranium but also to reduce the environmental impact of reactor performance levels, extending reactor service life nuclear energy in three different areas: materials, fuels authority of the facility. these processes. and increasing the safety level of power plants. and separation chemistry.
Back-end of the current fuel cycle
Programmes are being conducted to support Orano in Using the Maestro tele-operated arm optimising or adapting the processes used to treat spent to dismantle nuclear facilities. fuel at the La Hague plant and to manufacture MOX1 fuel at the Melox plant. They are also designed to support Andra so as to provide the scientific and technical infor- Nuclear clean-up mation needed for the acceptance files for future waste disposal sites. Lastly, such programmes set out to guide EDF in its management of certain types of waste. and dismantling Lab-scale studies on selective uranium extraction processes. Facilities having reached the end of their service life require the implementation of dismantling These clean-up and dismantling programmes are supported by R&D activities to reduce the cost and duration of dis- programmes. This includes all the activities carried out after final shutdown in order to reach a mantling work, the doses incurred and the waste produced, predefined end state for the facility. Other than clean-up and dismantling, such programmes also while improving the working conditions at the sites. cover the retrieval and conditioning of legacy waste, including the deployment of cross-functional Cross-disciplinary programmes The DEN on the international stage activities on all sites to support or coordinate the projects on a global level. for clean-up and dismantling The DEN cooperates with most major nuclear fields by signing collaboration agreements To be able to make progress in clean-up and dismantling powers. Such cooperation can concern issues with foreign partners. And it can cover economic Dismantling sites Clean-up and dismantling activities in a shutdown nuclear facility. operations and the retrieval and conditioning of waste, of national interest when requested by issues when the DEN is offering its services There are currently 28 regulated nuclear facilities (INB) or cross-disciplinary programmes are needed to coordinate the Government wanting to foster strategic to foreign industrial partners or looking individual facilities undergoing dismantling at the DEN. and support the different activities involved with such partnerships with other countries that have for foreign investment in its research The broad range of facilities to be dismantled - test reac- operations. These activities range from transportation and nuclear power. It can also concern scientific infrastructures. tors, laboratories, fuel cycle workshops and plants, waste transport casks, waste and material flow management, and technical issues when the DEN needs treatment and storage facilities, etc. - means that the CEA operation of nuclear service facilities and the transfer of to develop its expertise in complementary cannot benefit from standardised or reproducible operations. waste to existing and future waste outlets, as well as the Over the years, the CEA has gained significant experience, R&D needed to support these worksites. These cross-dis- both in project ownership and in the methodologies and ciplinary programmes are not just specific to clean-up and expertise required for the implementation of such dismant- dismantling projects, however; they apply across all CEA ling projects. activities, including research. (1) Mixture of uranium and plutonium oxide » Agency - © CEA Conception and realization : Obea Sur le Pont
Nuclear Energy Division CEA Paris-Saclay Centre 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex www.cea.fr
Communication contact: [email protected] - © S.Le Couster/CEA E.Stanislas/CEA C. Faugeras « - © G.Lesénéchal/CEA P.Stroppa/CEA Photo credits : © PF.Grosjean/CEA