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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.
A. P. Mills, Jr.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 110 | Number 2 | February 1992 | Pages 165-167
Technical Papers | doi.org/10.13182/NSE92-A23885
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is argued that 79Kr is uniquely suited for an intense positron source. It can be produced by neutron activation of a rare, but available, stable isotope 78Kr; it has a convenient 35-h half-life; as a nonreactive gas, it can be transported and recycled in a closed system using automated valves without exposure of personnel; and it can be vapor deposited easily on a large area cold surface using a solid neon moderator to make a slow positron source with intensity (∼1011 s−1) limited only by the availability of neutrons and cryogenic refrigeration.