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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. Segev, A. Misulovin, A. Galperin
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 127 | Number 2 | October 1997 | Pages 238-244
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE97-A28600
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fuel management scheme is proposed for a twofold purpose: incineration of light water reactor waste plutonium and electricity generation. The scheme is based on a fast spectrum core with lead as a coolant. The core is managed in a three-batch mode, 200 days per cycle. Enriched 10B, in B4C pellets, is used as burnable poison, reducing the criticality drop to just 2.8%/cycle. The latter can be handled easily with a few control rods. The core is flat, with a 400-cm diameter and 90-cm height, to ensure that core voiding results in a criticality decrease. Recycled fuel is recharged into the core after the fission products, but not actinides, have been removed. Equilibrium operation is reached within a short period of 2 yr. In a span of 27 yr, the core will incinerate the plutonium at an average rate of 730 kg/yr, while generating 1000 MW(electric).