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Undeclared uranium hitches a ride on cobalt exports from Congo, study says
Philippe (left) and Manzuk quantified the amount of uranium that has been exported from the DRC in cobalt shipments or left behind in the environment. (Photo: Joel Hallberg/UW–Madison)
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University have published a study in Nature Communications that calls attention to a blind spot in nuclear nonproliferation: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has exported thousands of metric tons of uranium, and there is no accounting for where it has gone.
In partnership with Lighthouse Reports and the Financial Times, UW–Madison nuclear engineering professor and nuclear security expert Sébastien Philippe and Ryan Manzuk, a geologist and research fellow in Philippe’s group and at Princeton, conducted the study using countrywide mineralization and geochemical data.
Nathan Michael George, Ivan Maldonado, Kurt Terrani, Andrew Godfrey, Jess Gehin, Jeff Powers
Nuclear Technology | Volume 188 | Number 3 | December 2014 | Pages 238-251
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-3
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study evaluated the neutronics and some of the fuel cycle characteristics of using uranium-based fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel in a pressurized water reactor (PWR). Specific PWR lattice designs with FCM fuel have been developed that are expected to achieve higher specific burnup levels in the fuel while also increasing the tolerance to reactor accidents. The SCALE software system was the primary analysis tool used to model the lattice designs. A parametric study was performed by varying tristructural isotropic particle design features (e.g., kernel diameter, coating layer thicknesses, and packing fraction) to understand the impact on reactivity and resulting operating cycle length. To match the lifetime of an 18-month PWR cycle, the FCM particle fuel design required roughly 10% additional fissile material at beginning of life compared with that of a standard uranium dioxide (UO2) rod. Uranium mononitride proved to be a favorable fuel for the fuel kernel due to its higher heavy metal loading density compared with UO2. The FCM fuel designs evaluated maintain acceptable neutronics design features for fuel lifetime, lattice peaking factors, and nonproliferation figure of merit.