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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.
Man Gyun Na, Won Il Ko, Hangbok Choi
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 142 | Number 3 | November 2002 | Pages 315-326
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE02-A2310
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A combination method of spent pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel is proposed that adjusts the fuel composition for direct use of spent PWR fuel in Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) reactors (DUPIC). This method reduces the composition heterogeneity (variation) of the DUPIC fuel caused by directly reusing spent PWR fuel as DUPIC fuel feedstock. In this study, a combination method was used to find the optimum mixture composition from the spent PWR fuel database by minimizing the composition variation of the major fissile isotopes 235U and 239Pu. The simulation results have shown that the combination method can reduce the composition variation of 235U and 239Pu to 0.11 and 1.40%, respectively, through assemblywise mixing operation only. It is also believed that the result could be improved further through a rodwise combination technique if the isotopic composition of each spent PWR fuel rod is known by direct measurement during the DUPIC fuel fabrication process.