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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.
M. B. Chadwick, P. G. Young
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 108 | Number 2 | June 1991 | Pages 117-125
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE91-A23812
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The 178Hf(16+) isomeric state has a 31-yr half-life and could pose serious radioactive activation problems in nuclear fusion reactors if its production in 14-MeV neutron-induced reactions is significant. The relatively high excitation energy (2.447 MeV) of this state causes it to lie in the continuum region. If rotational band members above this state were populated in a reaction, they would gamma cascade into it. While the existence of such levels can be justified theoretically, they have not been experimentally resolved; therefore, it is necessary to reconstruct the rotational levels built on the isomeric state. Using preequilibrium and compound nucleus theories, the cross sections for this and other hafnium isomeric states are calculated and compared with experimental measurements where available.