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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Supply Security in Future Nuclear Fuel Markets

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1233491· OSTI ID:1233491
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  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Previous PNNL work has shown the existing nuclear fuel markets to provide a high degree of supply security, including the ability to respond to supply disruptions that occur for technical and non-technical reasons. It is in the context of new reactor designs – that is, reactors likely to be licensed and market ready over the next several decades – that fuel supply security is most relevant. Whereas the fuel design and fabrication technology for existing reactors are well known, the construction of a new set of reactors could stress the ability of the existing market to provide adequate supply redundancy. This study shows this is unlikely to occur for at least thirty years, as most reactors likely to be built in the next three decades will be evolutions of current designs, with similar fuel designs to existing reactors.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1233491
Report Number(s):
PNNL--22971; NN4012010
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English