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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. Abou-Sena, A. Ying, M. Abdou
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 1094-1100
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - First Wall, Blanket, and Shield | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-3
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The use of lithium ceramic pebble beds has been considered in many blanket designs for the fusion reactors. Lithium ceramics have received a significant interest as tritium breeders for the fusion blankets during the last three decades. The thermal performance of the lithium ceramic pebble beds plays a key role for the fusion blankets. In order to study the heat transfer in the blanket, the effective thermal conductivity of the lithium ceramics pebble beds has to be well measured and characterized. The data of effective thermal conductivity of lithium ceramic pebble beds is important for the blanket design. Several studies have been dedicated to investigate the effective conductivity of the lithium ceramics pebble beds. The objective of this work is to review and compare the available data, presented by various studies, of effective conductivity of lithium ceramic pebble beds in order to address the current status of these data.