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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.
Joshua Kohpeiss, Stefan Welte, Ion Cristescu, Nancy Tuchscherer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 3 | May 2024 | Pages 472-478
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2240638
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In future fusion or fission reactors, tritium permeation may present a serious challenge. In order to separate the water steam cycle from gas streams containing significant amounts of tritium, a permeation barrier is necessary. Tritium permeation into the environment through steam generators and heat exchangers can be a significant hazard regarding radiation and environmental safety. In the scope of the project TRANSversal Actions for Tritium (TRANSAT), a facility has been set up to perform tests on various scaled and functioning permeation barrier mock-ups at the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK). The facility was built in a standard glove-box unit in accordance to the technical terms and requirements of tritium handling at TLK. The behavior of an active permeation barrier was investigated. Within the first series of TRANSAT experiments, four different mock-ups have been tested for tritium permeation. Migrated tritium is oxidized to tritiated water (HTO) using Carulite reactors and molecular sieves for HTO trapping. This paper will present the construction, setup, and commissioning of the facility as well as the first series of TRANSAT experiments including their evaluation.