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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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The journey of the U.S. fuel cycle
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
While most big journeys begin with a clear objective, they rarely start with an exact knowledge of the route. When commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson didn’t provide specific “turn right at the big mountain” directions to the Corps of Discovery. He gave goal-oriented instructions: explore the Missouri River, find its source, search for a transcontinental water route to the Pacific, and build scientific and cultural knowledge along the way.
Jefferson left it up to Lewis and Clark to turn his broad, geopolitically motivated guidance into gritty reality.
Similarly, U.S. nuclear policy has begun a journey toward closing the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. There is a clear signal of support for recycling from the Trump administration, along with growing bipartisan excitement in Congress. Yet the precise path remains unclear.
Yoshitaka Chikazawa, Mamoru Konomura, Tomoyasu Mizuno, Makoto Mito, Mikio Tanji
Nuclear Technology | Volume 154 | Number 2 | May 2006 | Pages 142-154
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT06-A3724
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A small fast reactor has the potential to be utilized as a power source applicable to diversified social needs and to reduce capital risks. At remote sites where the population is small and plants cannot be economically connected to a power grid, power sources without refueling whose capacities are <50 MW(electric) are required because the fuel transfer cost is expensive at such sites. In the present study, a small lead-bismuth-cooled core with a 30-yr lifetime has been developed, and a simple plant system without refueling has been sketched. The dimensions of the major components are determined to evaluate its economic potential. Transient analyses of anticipated-transient-without-scram events show that the design has passive safety features suitable for a remote power source.