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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.
Min-Nan Huang, M. M. El-Wakil
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 28 | Number 1 | April 1967 | Pages 12-19
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE67-A18662
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A visual and frictional pressure-drop study of low-pressure high-void-fraction two-phase flow has been performed in a boiling-water natural-circulation system with heat addition. Heat was added uniformly by four tubular electrical resistance elements placed parallel to the flow, simulating cylindrical nuclear fuel elements. A 6-ft vertical test channel, 1.25-in. i.d. was used. It contained six opposite pairs of observing windows permitting high-speed motion pictures of the flow to be taken at different operating conditions. Experimental two-phase pressure-drop data at various flow rates were conducted at pressures of 25, 35, and 50 psia, and steam qualities ranging from 0.7 to 7.8% corresponding to void fractions of 63 to 94.5%. Bubbly and transition from bubbly to slug flow regimes were observed. Strong pulsations, inherent in natural-circulation systems with internal heat addition, were also observed. Frictional pressure-drop data were obtained as a function of both quality and mass flow rate. Under the conditions of the investigation, no discontinuities in flow regime or frictional pressure drop were observed and the Martinelli-Nelson correlation for the friction multiplier was found to greatly underestimate the value of the multiplier. A motion-picture film of flow is available as a supplement to this paper.