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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.
Laila A. El-Guebaly, Mohamed E. Sawan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 15 | Number 2 | March 1989 | Pages 881-886
ITER Nuclear Design | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A39805
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The shield design of ITER is required to meet both magnet protection requirements and safety-related criteria. Although the W provides excellent magnet protection, its high specific decay heat caused some concern in case of an accident. A trade study was carried out in which W is replaced by steel in the high neutron flux zones of the inboard shield and the sensitivity of the machine size, cost, and magnet damage to such change was determined. Satisfying the 1019 n/cm2 fast fluence limit for the magnet, the direct cost is essentially the same for the steel and W shields, although the steel shield is 0.1 m thicker. The 0.55 m thick inboard shield of ITER is configured in 3 main layers: a 0.05 m Be layer, followed by a 0.18 m steel layer, then a 0.18 m W layer. Five coolant channels, each 0.01 m wide, are properly distributed across the shield. About 0.1 m thick layer of aqueous Li salt solution at the back of the shield was found necessary to minimize the damage in the magnet. This design meets the neutronics, safety, and thermal hydraulics requirements and there appears to be no feasible problems associated with it.