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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.
L. Desgranges, M. P. Ferroud-Plattet, R. Alloncle, I. Aubrun, J. M. Untrau, P. Lhuillery
Nuclear Technology | Volume 163 | Number 2 | August 2008 | Pages 252-260
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3985
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In dry storage conditions, the accidental scenario takes into consideration a defective nuclear fuel rod reacting with the atmosphere. In order to gain information on French nuclear fuel, a new experimental setup named CROCODILE was developed to perform oxidation experiments in hot cells on defective fuel rodlets with controlled temperature and atmosphere. The first test was performed at 623 K in air with a rodlet taken from a four-cycle mixed-oxide fuel rod in which defects were simulated by drilling holes in the cladding. After 139 h of oxidation, significant degradation was observed with the development of radial and axial cracks. At this point, the experiment was stopped and the rodlet was analyzed. The main features observed were (a) a significant strain in the cladding around the cracks, which resulted in the detachment of fuel fragments; (b) no evidence of hydride accumulation in the cladding; and (c) a heterogeneous propagation of the oxidation front in the nuclear ceramic. The influence of the simulated defect is discussed and the use of a round defect is examined.