PARIS, FRANCE -- Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today signed an agreement with France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) Chairman Alain Bugat that will allow cooperation between the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology and the French CEA.   The agreement specifically provides DOE access to the PHENIX fast spectrum test reactor, which has a capability that no longer exists in the U.S.

"Nuclear energy technology has the potential to improve the quality of life for people around the world if we are successful in solving issues such as economics, waste and proliferation," Secretary Abraham said.  "This new implementing arrangement with the CEA is a positive step forward and will provide for updating, strengthening and expanding the prior understanding of nuclear fuel and fuel cycle-related research and development."

The agreement builds on a meeting between DOE and CEA in September 2000, during which both organizations signed an agreement covering R&D cooperation in such areas as the Advanced Fuel Cell Initiative, Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Initiative and the Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative.   The cooperation has provided access to French R&D that has saved the U.S. tens of millions of dollars. 

Under the proposed implementing arrangement, DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology and the French CEA will perform an experimental irradiation project in the French PHENIX experimental fast reactor.  They will test various types of fuel loaded with minor actinides (highly toxic, long-lived material contained in spent nuclear fuel) under constant conditions and acquire data to permit selection of the best-performing fuel for future use in high-level waste transmuting systems.

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