[en] The sixty-five papers in this volume cover advances in fuel management and fuel handling and their impact on reactor availability. They are grouped under the following topics: fuel management; AGR safety case and fuel cycle optimisation; storage and disposal; plutonium utilisation; liquid sodium reactor fuel handling; AGR safety case and supporting data; fuel handling equipment and facilities; fuel manufacture and handling; managing fuel failure. Separate abstracts have been prepared for fifty-three of the papers. (UK)

[en] This paper describes work carried out by Nuclear Electric staff to optimise fuel route operations at the AGR Stations at Dungeness B, Hartlepool and Heysham 1, and identifies some further opportunities to improve fuel route efficiency and reliability. (author)

[en] The paper describes the operational experience of the fuel handling equipment at Heysham 2 AGR from its commissioning in 1988 to the present On-load refuelling. (author)

[en] The paper describes the fuel design and fuel management schemes for the first cycle of operation and the assumptions made in the current Sizewell B safety case for longer term operation. A description is then given of the fuel cycle enhancements to the current safety case assumptions which are to be introduced from Cycle 2 onwards to improve the economics of Sizewell B. (author)

[en] This paper describes recent improvements in the AGR fuel management methodology implemented within PANTHER and the use of the code both for stand-alone calculations and within an automatic optimisation procedure. (author)

[en] This paper describes the integration of PANTHER with an automatic optimisation procedure designed to search for optimal PWR reload cores and assesses its performance. (author)

[en] The paper outlines the issues which influence dose uptake for the operation of BNFL's large scale MOX fuel fabrication facility, the Sellafield MOX Plant. The methodology used to establish design proposals which meet the stringent dose uptake criteria is described. Specific examples of the results of the application of the approach are given. (author)

[en] The paper begins with a description of an AGR fuel element and of the results obtained from buckling tests on irradiated pins. The results of the drop tests are then assessed. Finally, assessments are made for drops of irradiated fuel in the conditions of interest. (author)

[en] This paper describes the changes made to fuel loadings at some of Nuclear Electric's AGRs in the early 1990s, and explains the reasons for them. A brief outline of more recently adopted fuel cycles is also given. (author)

[en] The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relative neurotic efficiency and fuel cycle cost benefits of PWR burnable absorbers. Establishment of reference low-leakage equilibrium in-core fuel management plans for 12-, 18- and 24-month cycles. Review of the fuel management impact of the integral fuel burnable absorber (IFBA), erbium and gadolinium. Calculation of the U₃O₈, UF₆, SWU, fuel fabrication, and burnable absorber requirements for the defined fuel management plans. Estimation of fuel cycle costs of each fuel management plan at spot market and long-term market fuel prices. Estimation of the comparative savings of the different burnable absorbers in dollar equivalent per kgU of fabricated fuel. (author)