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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.
D. Frigione, L. Pieroni, P. Buratti, E. Giovannozzi, M. Romanelli, B. Esposito, M. Leigheb, L. Gabellieri
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 3 | May 2004 | Pages 339-349
Technical Paper | Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A518
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High-density plasmas (no ~ 8 × 1020 m-3) achieving steady improved core-confinement have been obtained in the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) up to the maximum nominal toroidal field (8 T) by deep multiple pellet injection. These plasmas exhibit also high purity, efficient electron-ion coupling, and peaked density profiles sustained for several energy confinement times. Neutron yields in excess of 1 × 1013 n/s are measured, consistent with the reduction of the ion transport to neoclassical levels. Improved performance is associated with sawtooth stabilization that occurs when the pellet penetrates close to the q = 1 surface. In this regime, impurity accumulation can be prevented if a slow sawtooth activity is maintained. Experiments aimed at obtaining radiation-improved modes at high field have also been carried out using neon injection. The observed increase of the average density, with respect to the reference discharge, is significantly larger than the contribution of Ne. The neutron yield increases also by a factor of 3 to 6, and the energy confinement time increases by a factor up to 1.4.