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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.
Ken Nakajima, Masanori Akai, Takenori Suzaki
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 119 | Number 3 | March 1995 | Pages 175-181
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A24083
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The modified conversion ratio (MCR) (the ratio of the 238U capture rate to the total fission rate) in a light-water-moderated uranium-plutonium mixed-oxide- (MOX-) fuel lattice was measured for four types of lattices with different plutonium enrichment. In the current method, the relative reaction rates of 238U capture and total fission were obtained from nondestructive gamma-ray spectrometry of 239Np and fission products, respectively, which accumulated in the fuel rod irradiated at the Tank-Type Critical Assembly. The measured results of the fission rates derived from two different fission products agreed well with each other, and the measured MCRs showed good agreement with the results of the Monte Carlo calculation with the whole-core model. Therefore, the current nondestructive method is applicable to the MCR measurement of MOX fuel.