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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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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.
J. W. ANDERSON, W. D. MCNEESE, C. C. BURWELL, J. A. LEARY
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 11 | Number 4 | December 1961 | Pages 434-440
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A26045
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tantalum-sheathed plutonium fuel pins have been prepared for the first core loading of the Los Alamos Molten Plutonium Reactor Experiment-I. Twenty-five kilograms of plutonium–10 atomic per cent iron alloy were prepared by co-reduction and by co-melting methods. After casting the alloy into rods, each rod was machined and finished to a 0.357 in. diam piece weighing 175 gm. The finished alloy rod was finally placed in a tantalum sheath which was then sealed by fusion welding to a tantalum cap. Procedures and equipment used for alloying, casting, machining, welding, and inspection are described and illustrated by photograph. Methods used to prepare rods of other low melting plutonium alloys are also discussed.