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US awards contracts to process HALEU fuel for high-tech reactors
US awards contracts to process HALEU fuel for high-tech reactorsExcerpts:
WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. has awarded six companies contracts to help process a special uranium fuel meant for a new generation of reactors that could be built in coming years, the Energy Department said on Tuesday.
Russia is currently the only country that makes the high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, or HALEU, in commercial volumes.
The companies that won the contracts and aim to de-convert HALEU are Centrus (LEU.A), opens new tab, the U.S. division of France's state-owned nuclear fuel company Orano, GE Vernova (GEV.N), opens new tab, BWXT (BWXT.N), opens new tab, French firm Framatome, and Westinghouse...
...The administration of President Joe Biden believes nuclear power, which generates virtually emissions-free electricity, is critical in fighting climate change and to meet rising power demand from artificial intelligence and other consumers.
"Boosting our domestic uranium supply won’t just advance President Biden’s historic climate agenda, but also increase America’s energy security, create good-paying union jobs, and strengthen our economic competitiveness," Ali Zaidi, the national climate adviser, said in a statement.
All contracts will last for up to 10 years. Each company will get a minimum contract of $2 million, with up to $800 million available for the services, subject to the availability of appropriations, the Energy Department said...
Russia is currently the only country that makes the high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, or HALEU, in commercial volumes.
The companies that won the contracts and aim to de-convert HALEU are Centrus (LEU.A), opens new tab, the U.S. division of France's state-owned nuclear fuel company Orano, GE Vernova (GEV.N), opens new tab, BWXT (BWXT.N), opens new tab, French firm Framatome, and Westinghouse...
...The administration of President Joe Biden believes nuclear power, which generates virtually emissions-free electricity, is critical in fighting climate change and to meet rising power demand from artificial intelligence and other consumers.
"Boosting our domestic uranium supply won’t just advance President Biden’s historic climate agenda, but also increase America’s energy security, create good-paying union jobs, and strengthen our economic competitiveness," Ali Zaidi, the national climate adviser, said in a statement.
All contracts will last for up to 10 years. Each company will get a minimum contract of $2 million, with up to $800 million available for the services, subject to the availability of appropriations, the Energy Department said...
My view is that Joe Biden will go down as the greatest President on Energy Issues, even if he embraced the waste that solar and wind energy represents, since he took a fresh look to identify what works to address extreme global heating, building on the legacy of the Obama administration which pushed for the building of the Vogtle reactors, and importantly, got them built.
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about HALEU, since I personally believe that the best path to high burnups will be ternary plutonium/thorium/(depleted or once through) uranium fuels in heavy water reactors, and possibly light water reactors as well, but in the end fast and epithermal systems, the latter with multiply cycled plutonium to exploit the neutron multiplicity of 241Pu.
That said, the outstanding should not be the enemy of the excellent, and we need to build reactors of all types and all kinds with all kinds of fuels, and anyway, who cares what I think?
Thank you President Biden for your outstanding record on nuclear energy, the last best hope of the environment.
Good news.