Massimo Salvatores’ seminal ideas and comprehensive views on nuclear fuel cycle studies

Abstract

Massimo Salvatores provided fundamental innovations to the European and international Nuclear Fuel Cycle (NFC) studies, in particular on analysis of Partitioning and Transmutation (P&T) strategies, and introduced them to KIT. His visions and guidance triggered an advanced approach to such studies, with the final aim to maximize synergies of different nuclear energy policies at local and regional levels. He recognized that several different aspects have to be taken into account in the NFC activities, ranging from national polices, to the role of Pu as resource or as a waste, up to the implementation of P&T options with innovative reactor concepts. Such huge contribution inherited from Massimo is a result of the key role he played in the main projects worldwide related to both the NFC studies and the design and assessment of ADS and Low Conversion ratio fast reactor systems. In the present paper, we provide an overview of the work performed by Massimo and his colleagues at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, emphasising the innovative elements introduced by Massimo on the back-end of the fuel cycle with focus on P&T of the spent nuclear fuel. The key innovations achieved by Massimo and his KIT team presented hereafter are the introduction of NFC regional scenario studies, the consideration of safety and transmutation assessments of innovative burner reactor concepts, and the effect of the propagation of the existing uncertainties on fuel cycle scenarios simulation results.