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Front-end nuclear fuel supply cooperation: Turning allied interdependence into strategic advantage
The global nuclear revival, which is fueled by unprecedented demand for firm, affordable, dispatchable power for artificial intelligence and data center build-out, energy security imperatives, and climate commitments, has exposed a structural reality of the Western fuel cycle: No single allied nation currently possesses the full suite of front-end capabilities. From mining through conversion, enrichment, fabrication, and the emerging deconversion and metallization steps required for reactor fuels, capability is distributed across Canada, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States (collectively, the “Sapporo Five”), as well as a small group of close partners.
M. R. Baer, S. K. Griffiths, J. E. Shepherd
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 88 | Number 3 | November 1984 | Pages 436-444
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE84-A18597
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Water fogs are recognized as an effective means to mitigate the effects of large-scale hydrogen combustion that might accompany some loss-of-coolant nuclear reactor accidents. Fogs of sufficiently high density to produce large beneficial effects may, however, be difficult to generate and maintain. An alternate method of suspending the desired mass of water is via high expansion-ratio aqueous foams. Because, in practice, the foam would be generated using the combustible gaseous contents of the containment vessel, combustion occurs inside the foam cells. Although foams generated with inert gas have been well studied for use in fire fighting, little is known about combustion in foams generated with flammable mixtures. To help assess the usefulness of aqueous foams in a mitigation plan, several open-tube tests and more than 100 closed-vessel tests of hydrogen/air combustion, with and without foam were conducted. At low and intermediate hydrogen concentrations, the foam has little effect on the ultimate isochoric pressure rise. Above 15% hydrogen concentration, the foam causes a significant reduction in the pressure rise. The maximum effect occurs at ∼28% hydrogen (the stoichiometric limit is 29.6% hydrogen) where the peak overpressure is reduced by 2½. Despite this overall pressure reduction, the flame speed is increased by up to an order of magnitude for combustion in the foam, and strong pressure fluctuations are observed near a hydrogen concentration of 23%.