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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.
Wang Kee In
Nuclear Technology | Volume 134 | Number 2 | May 2001 | Pages 187-195
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-1
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A numerical study was conducted to investigate the nuclear fuel assembly coolant flow mixing that is promoted by the flow deflectors on the grid spacer. Four typical flow deflectors (split vane, side-supported vane, swirl vane, and twisted vane) were chosen for this study. A single subchannel of one grid span is modeled using the flow symmetry. The predicted axial and lateral mean flow velocities, and the turbulent kinetic energy in the subchannel for the split-vane design, are in good agreement with the experimental results.The split vane and the twisted vane generate a large cross flow between the subchannels and a skewed elliptic swirling flow in the subchannel near the grid spacer. The cross flow rapidly decreases and the swirling flow becomes dominant downstream of the spacer. The side-supported vane induces a horizontally elongated elliptic swirl in the subchannel and a secondary flow in the near downstream of the spacer. The swirl vane produces a circular swirling flow in the subchannel and a negligible cross flow. For the twisted-vane and side-supported vane designs, the change in direction of the cross flow was predicted. The average turbulent kinetic energy in the subchannel sharply increases near the spacer and rapidly decreases to a fully developed level. In summary, the numerical results showed a somewhat large difference from the experimental results near the spacer but represented the overall characteristics of coolant mixing well in a nuclear fuel bundle with the flow deflectors on the grid spacer.
