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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.
Hideo Harada, H. Takahashi, Arnold L. Aronson, Takeshi Kase, Kenji Konashi,†, Nobuyuki Sasao
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 24 | Number 2 | September 1993 | Pages 161-167
Technical Paper | Nonelectrical Application | doi.org/10.13182/FST93-A30222
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A system of nuclear transmutation is presented in which fission products and transuranics (TRU) are incinerated using 14-MeV neutrons produced by muoncatalyzed fusion (µCF) and a subcritical core composed of fission products and TRU, The 14-MeV neutrons produced by µCF are used to transmute 90Sr (fission product) by the (n,2n) reaction. The outcoming neutrons from the 90Sr cell transmute TRU through fission reactions and 99Tc through (n, γ) reactions. This fission energy is converted into electric energy to supply 4 GeV-25 mA deuteron beam power, which is used to produce µ− mesons. We also evaluate the production of tritium that is consumed as a fuel for µCF. The feasibility of the system was analyzed by the MCNP Monte Carlo neutron transport code. The results show that this system can be subcritical and can transmute fission products and TRU with an incineration half-life of ∼1 yr and that the deuteron beam energy and tritium fuel required to operate the system can be supplied within the system cycle itself.
