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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.
Robert E. Einziger, Hanchung Tsai, Michael C. Billone, Bruce A. Hilton
Nuclear Technology | Volume 144 | Number 2 | November 2003 | Pages 186-200
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3439
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For [approximately equal to]15 yr Dominion Generation's Surry Nuclear Station 15 × 15 Westinghouse pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel was stored in a dry inert-atmosphere Castor V/21 cask at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory at peak cladding temperatures that decreased from ~350 to 150°C. Before storage, the loaded cask was subjected to thermal-benchmark tests, during which time the peak temperatures were greater than 400°C. The cask was opened to examine the fuel rods for degradation and to determine if they were suitable for extended storage. No fuel rod breaches and no visible degradation or crud/oxide spallation from the fuel rod surface were observed. The results from profilometry, gas release measurements, metallographic examinations, microhardness determination, and cladding hydrogen behavior are reported in this paper.It appears that little or no fission gas was released from the fuel pellets during either the thermal-benchmark tests or the long-term storage. In the central region of the fuel column, where the axial temperature gradient in storage is small, the measured hydrogen content in the cladding is consistent with the thickness of the oxide layer. At ~1 m above the fuel midplane, where a steep temperature gradient existed in the cask, less hydrogen is present than would be expected from the oxide thickness that developed in-reactor. Migration of hydrogen during dry storage probably occurred and may signal a higher-than-expected concentration at the cooler ends of the rod. The volume of hydrides varies azimuthally around the cladding, and at some elevations, the hydrides appear to have segregated somewhat to the inner and outer cladding surfaces. It is, however, impossible to determine if this segregation occurred in-reactor or during transportation, thermal-benchmark tests, or the dry storage period. The hydrides retained the circumferential orientation typical of prestorage PWR fuel rods. Little or no cladding creep occurred during thermal-benchmark testing and dry storage. It is anticipated that the creep would not increase significantly during additional storage because of the lower temperature after 15 yr, continual decrease in temperature from the reduction in decay heat, and concurrent reductions in internal rod pressure and stress. This paper describes the results of the characterization of the fuel and intact cladding, as well as the implications of these results for long-term (i.e., beyond 20 yr) dry-cask storage.