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The busyness of the nuclear fuel supply chain
Ken Petersenpresident@ans.org
With all that is happening in the industry these days, the nuclear fuel supply chain is still a hot topic. The Russian assault in Ukraine continues to upend the “where” and “how” of attaining nuclear fuel—and it has also motivated U.S. legislators to act.
Two years into the Russian war with Ukraine, things are different. The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in 2022, authorizing $700 million in funding to support production of high-assay low-enriched uranium in the United States. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy this January issued a $500 million request for proposals to stimulate new HALEU production. The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 includes $2.7 billion in funding for new uranium enrichment production. This funding was diverted from the Civil Nuclear Credits program and will only be released if there is a ban on importing Russian uranium into the United States—which could happen by the time this column is published, as legislation that bans Russian uranium has passed the House as of this writing and is headed for the Senate. Also being considered is legislation that would sanction Russian uranium. Alternatively, the Biden-Harris administration may choose to ban Russian uranium without legislation in order to obtain access to the $2.7 billion in funding.
D. Karamanis, M. Petit, S. Andriamonje, G. Barreau, M. Bercion, A. Billebaud, B. Blank, S. Czajkowski, R. Del Moral, J. Giovinazzo, V. Lacoste, C. Marchand, L. Perrot, M. Pravikoff, J. C. Thomas
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 139 | Number 3 | November 2001 | Pages 282-292
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE01-A2238
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The neutron capture cross section of 232Th has been measured relative to (n, ) for 197Au and (n,f) for 235U in the energy range from 60 keV to 2 MeV. Neutrons were produced by the 7Li(p,n) and T(p,n) reactions at the 4-MV Van de Graaff Accelerator of CEN Bordeaux-Gradignan. The activation technique was used, and the cross section was measured relative to the 197Au(n,) standard cross section up to 1 MeV. The characteristic gamma lines of the product nuclei 233Pa and 198Au were measured with a 40% high-purity germanium detector. Above this energy, the reaction 235U(n,f) was also used as a second standard, and the fission fragments were detected with a photovoltaic cell. The results, after applying the appropriate corrections, indicate that the cross sections are close to the JENDL-3 database values up to 800 keV and over 1.4 MeV. For energies in the intermediate range, our values are slightly lower than those from all the libraries.