Characterization of Belgian spent fuel assemblies

In the framework of the Safety and Feasibility Case 1 (SFC-1) summarizing the feasibility of direct deep geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel and giving a phenomenological description of the state of knowledge of such disposal scenario, the need was expressed to have a primer on nuclear fuel. This primer should be sufficiently specific to the fuel used in the Belgian Nuclear Power Plants (NPP), and sufficiently generic such that it surpasses individual case studies and that the link can be made with international research on the topic. In particular, the primer had to be oriented to the issues that are important in the context of geological disposal. The present report describes thus nuclear fuel from the perspective of back-end issues and in particular focuses on the Belgian reactors of Doel and Tihange. It is written with the aim to give a broad, scholarly overview and by no means is it meant to be exhaustive.