Fundamental Research on Actinide Materials for Sustainable Fuel Cycles in JAEA

The fundamental research on actinide materials has been carried out in order to contribute to the development of future nuclear fuel cycle and actinide science database. Among actinide materials, the R&D has been focused on Pu and minor actinide (MA; Np, Am, Cm) bearing compounds. The chemical forms of actinide compounds concerned include oxides, nitrides, chlorides and alloys, which are prepared, characterized and subjected to property measurements. In this paper those results on Pu and MA bearing oxides obtained in recent several years are summarized. In addition, the possible challenges of actinide materials research to the subjects of post severe accident of Fukushima-daiich nuclear power station are briefly discussed.