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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.
Hiroshi Motoda
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 49 | Number 4 | December 1972 | Pages 515-524
Technical Notes | doi.org/10.13182/NSE72-A22573
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A nonlinear programming technique was applied to a one-dimensional multiregion slab reactor to optimize control rod programming and fuel loading pattern simultaneously. Original equations and constraints which were continuous in space and time were discretized and further linearized to use linear programming repeatedly. Numerical results were confirmed by the previously developed two-region burnup space theory. Furthermore, the more quantitative evaluation of burnup optimization and the determination of more realistic control rod programming became possible by the increased degree of control freedom.