Some of the rationale for nuclear energy technology development in the US has been lost or forgotten over the past two decades with the lack of a focused reactor development program. But the emergence of new R&D programs points to a need to understand how best to plan for a Iona-term fuel development program. The rationale for such a program is not easily found in the literature, so the authors have suggested a structure and rationale. The approach is described as four phases. with emphasis on selecting a reference fuel concept, evaluating and improving the fuel to develop a fuel specification for a reference design. obtaining data to support a licensing safety case for the fuel, and final qualification of the fuel for a specific application. Because a fuel program requires long-lead-time irradiation testing, bringing a fuel design from the initial concept through licensing might take over 20 years. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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