Gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) is considered as one of the six most promising advanced nuclear reactor technologies, supported worldwide by the Generation IV International Forum and ESNII in Europe. It excels in versatility, combining very high core outlet temperatures and the possibility to close the fuel cycle, allowing for very efficient and sustainable electricity and industrial heat production. The SafeG proposal presents a Research and Innovation action aiming at connecting developers of the ALLEGRO reactor (V4G4) with European and international experts having experience in GFR and HTR research, who will utilize their unique expertise, knowledge and experience, bringing fresh ideas to the GFR development to the SafeG project will bring the GFR research and development in Europe a major step forward. It is divided into 7 Work Packages, four of them dealing with open research and development problems of GFRs, namely the core safety and proliferation resistance (WP1), advanced materials and technologies (WP2), decay heat removal (WP3), standardization and codes (WP4). Additionally, a major part of the effort (15 % of the total budget) will be dedicated to education and training activities sheltered by WP5. Dissemination and outreach activities are included in WP6 while WP7 ensures smooth management and execution of the project. The main objectives of the SafeG project are: - To strengthen safety of the GFR demonstrator ALLEGRO - To review the GFR reference options in materials and technologies - To adapt GFR safety to changing needs in electricity production worldwide with increased and decentralized portion of nuclear electricity by study of various fuel cycles and their suitability from the safety and proliferation resistance points of view - To bring in students and young professionals, boosting interest in GFR research - To deepen the collaboration with international non-EU research teams, and relevant European and international bodies

The security of supply of VVER nuclear fuel has become and will remain of vital importance in countries operating VVER-type reactors, and due to the strongly interconnected European grid network, this is also instrumental for Europe as a whole. The aim of SAVE project is to strengthen VVER fuel security of supply in Europe and Ukraine by qualifying a reliable and safer sovereign VVER-440 fuel design, by developing a fast-track licensing path and improving European capabilities for VVER-440 fuel design qualification. Through a strong European collaboration, a large qualification campaign will be performed within European test facilities to assess the performance of the new, safer and sovereign VVER-440 fuel assembly design. SAVE will prepare in-reactor qualification with mutualised LFAs (Lead Fuel Assemblies) programs, which will significantly accelerate design readiness for fuel reloads. SAVE will also define the plans to enable fully European manufacturing route and address the needs on Core Monitoring Systems, to initiate the next steps of development. To contribute to these objectives and increase the security of supply in Europe, the SAVE project is gathering 17 partners from 8 European countries, within a consortium composed of experienced and highly qualified European actors in nuclear fuel and VVER technologies, including nuclear utilities, TSOs, research entities, leading industrial actors and universities.

The PUMMA project will define different options for Pu management in Generation-IV systems and evaluate the impact on the whole fuel cycle in addition to safety and performance aspects. Fast neutron reactors with the associated fuel cycle strategy have been chosen to cope with these options because they are flexible: they offer the possibility of isogeneration, burning or breeding of plutonium. A wide range of Pu content (20 to 45%) corresponds to the highest concentration that can be encountered for plutonium multirecycling (~30-35% Pu to compensate degraded isotopic composition) and targeted plutonium burning (40-45%). The fuel cycle scenarios associated with the different strategies will be evaluated at different stages of the cycle in terms of impact on the facilities. These studies will be completed with dissolution tests as there is currently no dissolution data on fuels with very high plutonium contents. Studies to date have been limited to concentrations of less than 30%. Today, knowledge on MOX fuel behavior in Generation-IV reactors comes mainly from feedback on SFRs that have operated in the past in Europe, with Pu contents varying between 15% to 30% and Linear Heat Rate often in the 300 to 450 W/cm range. This knowledge is insufficient to cover future needs, whether in terms of reactor concepts (GFR, LFR, F-SMR ...), Pu management option or operating regime. PUMMA will provide complementary results on fuel properties and characterisations of 45%Pu-fuels irradiated in HFR and Phénix under nominal conditions and overpower. The safety standards will then be extended to this fuel composition as well as the fuel performance code validation. PUMMA will make the link between Europe and others international organisations: the fuel cycle studies at IAEA and OECD, the GEN-IV systems at ESNII and GIF, the fuel material studies at OECD. PUMMA will provide common data in E.U. for Pu management on : fuel cycle, fuel behavior, fuel properties and safety st-