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The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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The busyness of the nuclear fuel supply chain
Ken Petersenpresident@ans.org
With all that is happening in the industry these days, the nuclear fuel supply chain is still a hot topic. The Russian assault in Ukraine continues to upend the “where” and “how” of attaining nuclear fuel—and it has also motivated U.S. legislators to act.
Two years into the Russian war with Ukraine, things are different. The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in 2022, authorizing $700 million in funding to support production of high-assay low-enriched uranium in the United States. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy this January issued a $500 million request for proposals to stimulate new HALEU production. The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 includes $2.7 billion in funding for new uranium enrichment production. This funding was diverted from the Civil Nuclear Credits program and will only be released if there is a ban on importing Russian uranium into the United States—which could happen by the time this column is published, as legislation that bans Russian uranium has passed the House as of this writing and is headed for the Senate. Also being considered is legislation that would sanction Russian uranium. Alternatively, the Biden-Harris administration may choose to ban Russian uranium without legislation in order to obtain access to the $2.7 billion in funding.
Charles Forsberg, Per F. Peterson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 191 | Number 2 | August 2015 | Pages 113-121
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-88
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fluoride salt–cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) is a new reactor type that combines the graphite-matrix coated-particle fuel and graphite moderator from high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) with a clean liquid fluoride salt coolant. No FHR has yet been built. The proposed fuel cycle is a once-through fuel cycle—essentially identical to that of HTGRs. There is the option of adopting closed fuel cycles. Relative to light water reactor (LWR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF), all graphite-matrix coated-particle SNFs share the common characteristics of superior proliferation resistance and long-term performance as a waste form in a geological repository. The allowable HTGR and FHR SNF storage temperatures are much higher than allowable LWR SNF storage temperatures. These SNF characteristics are (a) a consequence of the high-temperature fuel form with a graphite matrix and SiC coating of the fuel microspheres and (b) to a first-order approximation independent of the reactor type in which the fuel is used.
There are differences. The FHR reactor core power density is four to ten times higher than in an HTGR, so the short-term decay heat of the SNF per unit volume upon discharge is four to ten times higher. The volume of FHR SNF is one-half to one-third that of an HTGR per unit energy output because (a) the salt provides some neutron moderation thus reducing the carbon-to-uranium ratio of the fuel and (b) the economic optimization with higher power densities increases the fuel loading. The FHR SNF volume is about four times that of a LWR per unit of electricity. The coolant generates significant tritium that is partly absorbed by the graphite and can be partly desorbed at higher temperatures. Last, any residual solid salt coolant with the SNF at low temperatures can undergo radiolysis with the potential generation of fluorine gas. The presence of the salt coolant on the SNF and graphite moderator will require treatment, removal of residual coolant salt, or demonstration that the small quantities of radiolysis products of frozen salt do not impact long-term performance of storage or disposal facilities.