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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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October 2025
Latest News
Shifting the paradigm of supply chain
Chad Wolf
When I began my nuclear career, I was coached up in the nuclear energy culture of the day to “run silent, run deep,” a mindset rooted in the U.S. Navy’s submarine philosophy. That was the norm—until Fukushima.
The nuclear renaissance that many had envisioned hit a wall. The focus shifted from expansion to survival. Many utility communications efforts pivoted from silence to broadcast, showcasing nuclear energy’s elegance and reliability. Nevertheless, despite being clean baseload 24/7 power that delivered a 90 percent capacity factor or higher, nuclear energy was painted as risky and expensive (alongside energy policies and incentives that favored renewables).
Economics became a driving force threatening to shutter nuclear power. The Delivering the Nuclear Promise initiative launched in 2015 challenged the industry to sustain high performance yet cut costs by up to 30 percent.
R. W. Moir, J. D. Lee, F. J. Fulton, F. Huegel, W.S. Neef, Jr., A. E. Sherwood, D. H. Berwald, R. H. Whitley, C.P.C. Wong, J. H. DeVan, W. R. Grimes, S. K. Ghose
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 465-473
Fusion Breeder Studies | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A40086
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new conceptual blanket design for a fusion reactor produces fissile material for fission power plants. Fission is suppressed by using beryllium, rather than uranium, to multiply neutrons and also by minimizing the fissile inventory. The molten-salt breeding media (LiF+BeF2+ThF4) is circulated through the blanket and on to the online processing system where 233U and tritium are continuously removed. Helium cools the blanket including the steel pipes containing the molten salt. Austenitic steel was chosen because of its ease of fabrication, adequate radiation-damage lifetime, and low corrosion rate by molten salt. We estimate the breeder, having 3000 MW of fusion power, produces 6400 kg of 233U per year, which is enough to provide make up for 20 GWe of LWR per year (or 14 LWR plants of 4440 MWt) or twice that many HTGRs or CANDUs. Safety is enhanced because the afterheat is low and the blanket materials do not react with air or water. The fusion breeder based on a pre-MARS tandem mirror is estimated to cost $4.9B or 2.35 times an LWR of the same power. The estimated present value cost of the 233U produced is $40/g if utility financed or $16/g if government financed.
