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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.
Alvin Shapiro, Warren F. Stubbins
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 45 | Number 1 | July 1971 | Pages 47-51
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A20344
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The photofission yields of 238Pu and 239Pu were measured up to 11.5 MeV with the University of Cincinnati betatron. Corona discharge spark detectors were used to detect the fission fragments from isotopically pure foils in the presence of the very high alpha-particle activity of the plutonium. The photofission cross sections were deduced from the yields by both the Penfold-Leiss procedure and Cook's least-structure analysis. They show the onset of the giant resonance. The cross section for 238Pu at 7.5 MeV is 28 ± 5 mb and 21 ± 4 mb for 239Pu. At 11.0 MeV, the corresponding values were 303 ± 94 mb and 221 ± 69 mb. Between 7.5 and 11 MeV, the 238Pu photofission cross section is ∼35% larger than that for 239Pu.