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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.
Mehmet Saglam, Joe J. Sapyta, Stewart W. Spetz, Lawrence A. Hassler
Nuclear Technology | Volume 147 | Number 1 | July 2004 | Pages 8-19
Technical Paper | Thoria-Urania NERI | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-29
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The objective is to develop equilibrium fuel cycle designs for a typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) loaded with homogeneously mixed uranium-thorium dioxide (ThO2-UO2) fuel and compare those designs with more conventional UO2 designs.The fuel cycle analyses indicate that ThO2-UO2 fuel cycles are technically feasible in modern PWRs. Both power peaking and soluble boron concentrations tend to be lower than in conventional UO2 fuel cycles, and the burnable poison requirements are less.However, the additional costs associated with the use of homogeneous ThO2-UO2 fuel in a PWR are significant, and extrapolation of the results gives no indication that further increases in burnup will make thoria-urania fuel economically competitive with the current UO2 fuel used in light water reactors.