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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.
A. Nikroo, W. Baugh, D. A. Steinman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 202-205
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST45-202
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Deuterium (D2) filled glass shells coated with a high Z element are needed for high energy density (HED) experiments by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory. We report here on our initial attempt to produce such shells. Glass shells made using the drop tower technique were coated with gold, palladium or tungsten, or a mixture of two of these elements. It was found that gold and palladium coatings did not stick well to the glass and resulted in poor or delaminated films. Tungsten coatings resulted in films suitable for these targets. Bouncing of shells during coating resulted in uniform tungsten coatings, but the surface of such coatings were filled with small nodules. Proper agitation of shells using a tapping technique resulted in smooth films with minimal particulate contamination. For coating rates of ~0.15 m/hr coatings with ~2 nm RMS surface finish could be deposited. The surface roughness of coatings at higher rates, 0.7 m/hr, was considerably worse (~100 nm RMS). The columnar structure of the coatings allowed permeation filling of the tungsten coated glass shells with deuterium at 300°C.