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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.
J. M. Kontoleon
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 70 | Number 3 | June 1979 | Pages 315-317
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A20155
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This Note analyzes the availability of supervised protective systems for nuclear reactors. Failure and repair times are assumed to be exponentially distributed. The availability is maximized, subject to a given fixed amount of resources, by determining the optimum distribution of resources between supervision and repair facilities and by selecting the optimum active-inactive times of the supervisor. The mathematical formulation employs a Markov model continuous in time and alternating between two and three discrete states. Maximization of availability is achieved by using a modified pattern search technique. Computer results illustrate the usefulness of the approach.