ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Uranium prices steady as EIA releases annual market report
The end-of-July spot price for uranium was $86.36 per pound, as reported by Cameco—roughly the same as it has been since February. Analytics firm Trading Economics reported a uranium futures price of $86.60 per pound, a figure that also has been holding steady since early April.
These updates come as the U.S. Energy Information Administration has released its 2025 Uranium Marketing Annual Report, which examines in detail multiple aspects of the U.S. uranium market. Data are derived from answers given in the Uranium Marketing Annual Survey, which collects information on contracts, deliveries (during the past year and projected for the next 10 years), purchased enrichment services, inventories, fuel assembly usage, and market requirements.
Theron Marshall, Robert Pawelko, Robert A. Anderl, Galen R. Smolik, Richard L. Moore, Brad Merrill
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 4 | June 2004 | Pages 592-596
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A534
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Carbon fiber composites (CFCs) are often suggested as armor material for the first wall of a fusion plasma chamber because of carbon's low atomic number, high thermal conductivity, and high melting point. However, carbon is chemically reactive in air and readily absorbs tritium. Accordingly, it is believed that during a loss-of-vacuum accident (LOVA), the CFC armor will react with the air ingress and release its absorbed tritium. The mobilization of this tritium and the carbon monoxide produced by the CFC-air chemical reaction are both safety concerns. This paper discusses the MELCOR thermal-hydraulic analysis of a simulated LOVA for the SOMBRERO fusion design. The MELCOR analysis is important because it included data from recent oxidation experiments that studied the advanced CFC NB31. A previous MELCOR analysis of a simulated SOMBRERO LOVA event suggested that the ingress of air would aggressively oxidize the CFC. While the current analysis revealed initial first-wall temperatures that exceed those of the prior analyses, the trend reversed 10 h after the onset of the LOVA. The calculated wall temperatures at the back of the blanket for the current analysis were consistently lower than those previously calculated using the older data. Accordingly, the conclusion is that a LOVA event for a fusion design similar to SOMBRERO may not be as grave as once predicted.