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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.
A. Ying, N. Morley, K. Gulec, B. Nelson, M. Youssef, M. Abdou
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 855-862
Fusion Blanket and Shield Technology (Poster Session) | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963719
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The attractive features and scientific challenges offered by the liquid wall systems render them strong candidates for investigation in the APEX project[1]. In particular, their high power density capabilities make the fusion reactors economically competitive. In this paper, as part of evolving a practical design based on this evolutionary idea, issues concerning thermalhydraulics of liquid surface first wall/blankets were analyzed. Design approaches as presently envisioned include both liquid films over the solid surface and gravity driven thick liquid jets using lithium and flibe as working fluids. The analyses involved defining liquid systems operating conditions, such as velocity and inlet/outlet temperatures, as well as to calculate free surface temperature so that the evaporation rate from the free surface would not jeopardize plasma operation while maintaining the liquid temperature within the operating windows for high thermal efficiencies. All analyses were performed for a neutron wall load of 10 MW/m2 and its corresponding surface heat flux of 2 MW/m2. The results indicated that high velocities, hard x-ray spectra and turbulent heat transfer enhancement were necessary conditions for keeping flibe first wall temperature low. On the other hand, at velocities of 20 m/s or higher, it appears possible to maintain lithium film evaporation rate below 1020#/m2s in an ARIES-RS type configuration. Nevertheless, present analyses have not uncovered any basic flaws or major shortcomings in the underlying scientific or technical arguments for the concepts. Yet, engineering innovations of how to maintain and control the flow and the associated analyses are still needed.