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This is a public web site which contains information relating to the EU FP6 Gas Cooled Fast Reactor (GCFR) project.
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O:P>FP6 - Europa Generation IV
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The EC FP6 GCFR projectThe GCFR Specific Targeted Research Project (STREP) has a total budget of 4 MEuro, and is sponsored by the European Commission, via its 6th Framework Programme (FP6). The project, which started on 1st March 2005 and runs for four years, is a collaboration of ten European partners, co-ordinated by National Nuclear Corporation Limited (NNC) and concerns research and development of Gas-Cooled Fast Reactors. The FP6 project follows on from an FP5 study entitled "GCFR Concept Review Studies", which ran for two years from Sept 2000 and included a substantial review of the strong gas cooled and fast reactor technology in Europe, as well as a phase devoted to updating the approach to safety, and a consideration of the integration of a GCFR into the fuel cycle. A summary of the achievements of the FP5 project is available from the Cordis website. Further information about FP6 GCFR can be found in the Project Presentation and in the recent paper for and presentation at FISA 2006 conference in Luxembourg in March 2006 .
GCFR will contribute a European perspective to the key events of the initial phase of the long-term Generation IV Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) R&D programme. These include the approach to safety, the selection of "reference" design options and alternatives, an identification of R&D requirements and a preliminary assessment of viability of the GCFR concept. For the ETDR, the GCFR STREP will contribute to the selection of design options, including safety design features and the Safety Options Report, and to establishing the ETDR mission and ETDR Mission Report. Generation IVThe Generation IV (Gen IV) project is a long-term international co-operative collaboration, which aims to develop future nuclear energy systems that would contribute to global energy needs from around 2025-2030. The crucial advantage of energy production in nuclear fission reactors is that it is a mature and reliable technology free from the emission of carbon dioxide, the key greenhouse gas contributing to the very serious problem of global warming. The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) has selected six reactor systems, for further R & D:
GCFR and sustainabilityNuclear energy systems have a crucial advantage over fossil fuel plants in that they do not emit carbon dioxide, the key greenhouse gas, and so their operation does not contribute to the growing and very serious environmental problem of global warming. Within this framework, cost competitive nuclear fission energy, a mature and reliable technology with an excellent overall safety record, should be considered a natural candidate to provide a key role in meeting the world energy requirements. The multi-recycling of fuel components in a closed fuel cycle employing a fast reactors such as GCFR has clear advantages in terms of resource utilisation of the uranium feedstock, and in the substantial reduction of volume and radiotoxicity of waste streams, key elements of sustainability. For a given quantity of uranium ore, a fast reactor would allow the cumulative saving in CO2 emission from using only thermal reactors to be increased by a factor of about a hundred. Education and trainingA key element of the EU framework programme projects is the education and training of young scientists. The main objective of the training activities linked to the GCFR STREP is to contribute, in this particularly innovative field, to the transfer of knowledge from experienced scientists to the young engineers and researchers. It will also help in communicating the nuclear community's endeavours in these new technologies to the next generation of scientists. For more information see the FP6 Neptuno website.GCFR STREP PARTNERS
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