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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.
P. Michelato, E. Cavaliere, C. Pagani, E. Bari, A. Bonucci
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 157 | Number 1 | September 2007 | Pages 95-109
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE07-A2715
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In recent years the research on nuclear power generation focused on an innovative subcritical reactor concept, along with previous liquid-metal-cooled critical reactors. The accelerator-driven system reactor design matches higher and intrinsic safety requirements with the reduction of actinides and long-lived fission products, encumbrances on the nuclear waste final repository. The coupling of the accelerator technology with the reactor facility faces new challenges; the first is the design of the interface between accelerator and reactor. Currently two solutions are proposed and investigated: one with a solid beam-target window interface and the other one without a beam window. Our speculations focus on the windowless approach: No physical barrier is located in the interface region, so the ultrahigh vacuum environment of the accelerator is connected with the operative conditions of the reactor through an intermediate spallation target. In this work we describe our experimental activities and the numerical tool employed to give a basic characterization of the vacuum dynamics for a windowless interface, with particular regard given to proton beamline and target interface of the Ansaldo A80-XADS reference design.