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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.
Chan Bock Lee, Yong Sik Yang, Young Min Kim, Dae Ho Kim, Youn Ho Jung
Nuclear Technology | Volume 147 | Number 1 | July 2004 | Pages 140-148
Technical Paper | Thoria-Urania NERI | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3520
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A thoria-urania (ThO2-UO2) fuel performance analysis code was developed by adding performance models and material properties correlations for thoria-urania fuel to a UO2 fuel performance analysis code, and its prediction capability was validated by comparison with thoria-urania fuel irradiation test data. Analysis of the ThO2-UO2 fuel performance in a typical pressurized water reactor showed that it could be irradiated up to a burnup of 70 to 100 MWd/kg heavy metal by optimizing the fuel rod design, and the overall irradiation performance of the ThO2-UO2 fuel would be somewhat better than for UO2 fuel.