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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.
Yasunori Kitamura, Yuta Eguchi
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 178 | Number 3 | November 2014 | Pages 401-413
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-21
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of integral reactor physics experiments conducted at the Very High Temperature Reactor Critical Assembly was analyzed to assemble it into a benchmark through an extensive peer-review process under the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project. This benchmark provides the experimental data with respect to the criticalities of seven core configurations and the temperature effect on reactivity up to 200°C with explicit experimental uncertainties newly evaluated. It further presents the benchmark models and corresponding values with some simplifications so that it can be used by reactor designers for validating the analytical tools employed to design next-generation reactors and for establishing the safety basis for operation of these reactors.