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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Lightbridge to test uranium-zirconium fuel alloy in INL’s ATR
Lightbridge Corporation has fabricated samples of nuclear fuel materials made of an enriched uranium-zirconium alloy, matching the composition of the alloy that the company intends to use for its future commercial Lightbridge Fuel product. The fuel is designed to improve the performance, safety, and proliferation resistance of nuclear reactors, according to the company. The enriched coupon samples will now be placed into capsules for irradiation testing in Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor.
Lara M. Pierpoint
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 186 | Number 1 | April 2017 | Pages 66-82
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2016.1272386
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nuclear fuel cycle studies have provided a wealth of information on the potential impacts of advanced recycling systems. Deciding on fuel cycle implementation pathways, however, requires synthesizing volumes of data and navigating trade-offs between fuel cycle options. This research presents a framework intended to aid fuel cycle decision makers by focusing on the cost reduction/waste mitigation trade-off as a lens for choosing a near-term strategy. The framework consists of a fuel cycle simulation coupled to a decision tree model that maps evolution scenarios. System scenarios are constructed by considering the technological options for fuel cycle evolution and key uncertainties expected to affect the desirability of those options. For this study, the once-through fuel cycle is compared to a self-sustaining fast reactor (FR) fuel cycle. Scenarios are compared using a value function that incorporates cost and waste metrics. The results indicate that uranium costs and the attainable level of reprocessing efficiency may not significantly impact the suite of desirable decisions. On the other hand, the pattern and timing of nuclear builds as well as the extent to which FRs provide true waste mitigation more significantly impact the attractiveness of closing the fuel cycle.