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The busyness of the nuclear fuel supply chain
Ken Petersenpresident@ans.org
With all that is happening in the industry these days, the nuclear fuel supply chain is still a hot topic. The Russian assault in Ukraine continues to upend the “where” and “how” of attaining nuclear fuel—and it has also motivated U.S. legislators to act.
Two years into the Russian war with Ukraine, things are different. The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in 2022, authorizing $700 million in funding to support production of high-assay low-enriched uranium in the United States. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy this January issued a $500 million request for proposals to stimulate new HALEU production. The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 includes $2.7 billion in funding for new uranium enrichment production. This funding was diverted from the Civil Nuclear Credits program and will only be released if there is a ban on importing Russian uranium into the United States—which could happen by the time this column is published, as legislation that bans Russian uranium has passed the House as of this writing and is headed for the Senate. Also being considered is legislation that would sanction Russian uranium. Alternatively, the Biden-Harris administration may choose to ban Russian uranium without legislation in order to obtain access to the $2.7 billion in funding.
Kazunori Takahashi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 63 | Number 1 | May 2013 | Pages 123-126
doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A16886
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A thrust imparted by a permanent-magnets helicon plasma thruster is directly measured by using a pendulum thrust balance. The source consists of a 6.5-cm-inner diameter glass tube and a magnetic nozzle provided by arrays of permanent magnets. The configuration is designed so as to have maximum field strength of about 100 Gauss near the open end of the source. The flow rate of argon propellant is chosen as 25 sccm and a plasma is produced by 13.56 MHz helicon and/or inductively coupled discharges. The main plasma is guided by the magnetic nozzle and flows out from the source. It is observed that the whole structure of the source attached to the pendulum balance moves only during the plasma production, and its displacement is measured by a laser displacement sensor. The obtained maximum thrust is presently 7.5 mN for 2 kW rf power.