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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.
Joseph A. Naser, Paul L. Chambré
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 79 | Number 1 | September 1981 | Pages 99-109
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE81-A19045
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A technique for solving systems of coupled ordinary differential equations with initial, boundary, and/or intermediate conditions is given. This method has a number of inherent advantages over existing techniques as well as being efficient in terms of computer time and space requirements. Optimal control problems can be solved by this technique by using Pontryagin's Maximum Principle to transform the state equations and their associated performance index into a system of coupled differential equations. An example of computing the optimal control for a spatially dependent reactor model with and without temperature feedback is given.