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As part of activities leading to a comprehensive evaluation and screening of nuclear fuel cycle options in 2013, the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) Office of Fuel Cycle Technologies (FCT) will hold an Informational Meeting on Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation Metrics at the Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, November 8-9, 2012. The objectives of this informational meeting are:
The purpose of the Evaluation and Screening effort is to provide information to USDOE about the potential benefits and challenges of nuclear fuel cycle options (i.e., the complete nuclear energy system from mining to disposal) that can be used to strengthen the basis and provide guidance for the prioritization of research & development activities undertaken by the Office of Fuel Cycle Technologies. Nine evaluation criteria have been designated by the USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy for the evaluation and screening: Nuclear Waste Management; Proliferation Risk; Nuclear Material Security Risk; Safety; Financial Risk and Economics; Environmental Impact; Resource Utilization; Development and Deployment Risk (including technical maturity, development time and cost, and licensing); and Institutional Issues. In order to apply these criteria for the evaluation and screening of a comprehensive set of fuel cycle options, evaluation metrics and methodologies for evaluating them have been developed. These metrics should be able to provide insights on advanced fuel cycle approaches that have the potential for achieving substantial improvements with respect to the nine criteria in comparison to the current nuclear fuel cycle in the U.S. The purpose of this meeting is to present the metrics and their evaluation methodologies and to obtain feedback from meeting participants on the (1) adequacy of the metrics for informing on each of the nine high-level evaluation criteria, and (2) appropriateness of the methodologies for metric evaluations including the assumptions being made. The purpose of this meeting is NOT to seek input on the pros and cons of any particular fuel cycle option. An earlier informational meeting was held in April 2012 to obtain external input to the fuel cycle options list.
A draft agenda for this meeting is available.
Invitation to this meeting is being offered to participants knowledgeable in nuclear energy systems from universities, nuclear industry and national laboratories. U.S. Citizens who desire to attend the meeting must pre-register (Foreign National Questionnaire) using the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluations Metrics Meeting website before October 15, 2012. Foreign Nationals must pre-register before October 10, 2012 and complete the ANL Visit Request form per instructions on the website. Meeting space is limited and an early pre-registration is encouraged. The number of participants from an organization may be limited to allow a broad spectrum of individuals and organizations to participate in the meeting. For questions about the meeting, please contact Ms. Cindie Jensen.
For questions about attending or registering for the meeting, please contact Ms. Cindie Jensen at cindie.jensen@inl.gov.