The IAEA’s Nuclear Energy Series is organized in a hierarchical structure: Nuclear Energy Basic Principles, Objectives in four key areas, Guides on specific topics and Technical Reports with detailed technical information. This publication establishes the criteria that need to be fulfilled in the area of the nuclear fuel cycles in order to satisfy the Nuclear Energy Basic Principles for resources, fuel engineering and performance, spent fuel management and reprocessing, and research reactor nuclear fuel cycles.The publication is written for fuel vendors, owners and operators of nuclear facilities, research and development organizations, nuclear regulators and politicians.

A transportable nuclear power plant (TNPP) is a factory manufactured, movable nuclear power plant, which when fuelled is capable of producing final energy products such as electricity and heat. Transportable nuclear power plants are not designed to operate during transportation. This publication highlights the potential benefits of TNPPs, describes the legal and institutional issues for their deployment in countries other than the country of origin, reveals challenges that might be faced in their deployment, and outlines pathways for resolution of the identified issues and challenges in the short and long term. It is addressed to senior legal, regulatory and technical officers in Member States planning to embark on a nuclear power programme or to expand an existing one by considering the introduction of a TNPP.

This publication reports on the work and findings of an IAEA coordinated research project. The technologies discussed are intended to establish the state of the art in surveillance, diagnostic and prognostic (SDP) technologies for equipment and process health monitoring in nuclear facilities. Technology gaps and research needs of the nuclear industry in the SDP area are also identified. The publication describes conventional SDP technologies as well as the latest tools, algorithms and techniques that have emerged over the past few years. These new tools have made it possible to identify problems earlier and with better resolution. The target audience of this publication is utility engineers, end users, researchers, managers and executives making decisions on implementation of the subject technologies in nuclear facilities, or determining the future direction of research and development in this area.

States embarking upon a nuclear power programme should understand the importance of establishing an adequate radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel management infrastructure. To assist in overcoming any challenges this might represent, this publication provides an overview of management practices in use in mature nuclear power programmes. Primarily addressing decision makers, it provides them with the level of strategic and technical information needed to understand overarching management issues of the various waste streams and spent fuel generated in nuclear power production. In addition, it examines the political, legal, societal, economic and technical challenges associated with each of the strategic options considered.

Environmental remediation has been in existence for decades, and a tremendous body of practical and scientific knowledge has been developed in many areas. Responding to the needs of Member States, the IAEA has initiated an environmental remediation project to address radioactive contamination found in soils and waters. This publication discusses the drivers on environmental remediation as well as the major obstacles confronted by any remediation operation and how to overcome those obstacles. It includes a number of potential strategies that may provide effective remediation outcomes and that have been deemed to be cost effective by Member States. Implementers of an environmental remediation programme as well as regulators will benefit from the information and guidance provided in this publication.

Given the increasing interest in the near term deployment of new nuclear power plants, IAEA Member States have requested guidance on the process of evaluating and selecting available technology options. Reactor technology assessment enables the evaluation, selection, and deployment of the best technology to meet the objectives of a nuclear power programme. This publication demonstrates how reactor technology assessment is performed and how the process and results of this work enable decision making in nuclear power planning. The approach also provides decision makers with the documentation necessary to support their conclusions.

A future energy economy will be strongly dependent on the necessity of replacing oil and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for climate protection. Hydrogen has the potential to play an important role as a sustainable and environmentally acceptable source of energy in the 21st century. Yet, there are technical challenges in nuclear hydrogen processes, which need to be addressed through a comprehensive research and development effort. This publication presents the state of the art in the nuclear production of hydrogen and describes the areas of research to be undertaken for establishing a hydrogen economy regime. It includes highlights of international programme and research efforts on nuclear hydrogen production as well as information on hydrogen uses and infrastructure, and provides an introduction to the economic analysis of hydrogen production.

This IAEA publication provides guidance on the inclusion of safeguards considerations in nuclear facility design and construction. This first volume introduces the basic principles of safeguards by design and discusses the goals, costs and rewards, and places the information into the context of nuclear facility design and construction. Benefits and opportunities for all stakeholders are emphasized. The guidance is aimed at enhancing the understanding of nuclear facility vendors and designers regarding the safeguards obligations of both States and the IAEA, at improving the cooperation between all stakeholders in safeguards implementation, and at minimizing the cost of implementation for all stakeholders.

Due to growing global energy demand, many countries have seen a rise in uranium exploration activities in the past few years, and newly designed geophysical instruments and their application in uranium exploration are contributing to an increased probability of successful discoveries. This publication highlights advances in airborne and ground geophysical techniques and methods for uranium exploration, succinctly describing modern geophysical methods and demonstrating their application with examples.

Technetium-99m (99mTc) is used in approximately 85% of diagnostic imaging procedures in nuclear medicine worldwide. Interruptions in the supply of molybdenum (99Mo), which is used to produce 99mTc, prompted governments and international agencies to step up efforts to identify both short- and longterm solutions to supply shortages. These calls for action resulted in economic and technology studies on the 99Mo supply chain. The present publication supports global efforts to eliminate the civilian use of enriched uranium in 99Mo/99mTc production and proposes several alternative or supplementary technologies.

This publication summarizes the findings of several IAEA meetings on fast reactor materials and provides a review of historically available and new information on the properties, fabrication technologies and irradiation behaviour of stainless steel structural materials for liquid metal cooled fast reactor (LMFR) fuel assemblies. It identifies different varieties of austenitic, ferritic–martensitic, oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels and nickel based alloys used or planned to be used as fuel cladding and structural components of fast reactor fuel assemblies; describes manufacturing processes of LMFR fuel cladding tubes and in-core components; and provides an overview of the operational behaviour of these materials in fast reactors. Particular attention is given to ODS steels as the promising path towards achieving higher fuel burnup in fast reactors.

In an effort to illustrate the sustainability of nuclear power, this publication discusses current practices for water requirements in nuclear power plants, possible future trends in design of water cooled reactors and the technologies employed. It analyses best practices and strategies for lower water withdrawal rates and presents the trade-off between production of electricity and water use and consumption, explaining types of cooling systems to be selected. The book thus aims at enhancing the understanding of the issues related to water use, consumption and management in a larger picture.