In view of the progress achieved in the materials research community as well as with the advent of more extensive experimental data for nuclear fuels, first principles (or ab initio) calculations have been applied over the past few years to shed light on some fundamental issues of these materials. On 5-6 March 2007 a workshop was held at ITU, which aimed at bringing together both users and developers of ab initio computer codes involved in these calculations, in order to discuss the recent results along with the needs for detailed knowledge of actinides and f-elements. More precisely, the workshop aimed at exploring ways to acquire more and more accurate material properties relevant for fuel fabrication processes, hence contributing to the selection of advanced nuclear materials, as well as to improve our understanding of underlying basic mechanisms governing the fuel behaviour during its entire lifetime. The workshop participants evaluated how the results of first principles approach can be used in larger scale atomistic calculations, such as pair potential and force field calculations, or fuel performance codes that are being used by safety authorities. In addition to the outcome of the workshop, an overview of the multi-time-scale approach at ITU for nuclear fuels is presented in the second part of the paper, along with suggestions for further development like in cladding materials for example.
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