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Prominent figures from across the nuclear fuel cycle say they are ready to meet increased demand, but pointed out areas where change is required to help make it happen, in a World Nuclear Symposium session.
Over one hundred and twenty nuclear energy and technology companies and twenty-five countries have signed up to the pledge to aim to at least triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050. One main question is how fuel supplies will be able to expand if such a goal is to be achieved. Here are extracts of what some key sector figures said during a discussion on the subject.
Nicolas Maes is the CEO of Orano. He said that with respect to mining Orano's current strategy was to expand existing projects, while in the medium term it was “revisiting our exploration policy and the means that we are allocating to exploration ... we believe that there are many areas in this world that have been vastly unexplored”. Orano was also developing "mining techniques to make deposits that were today not so accessible, accessible - or non-conventional deposits that could make sense now”. Maes used the analogy of “peak oil” saying that it was talked about in the 1920s “people were already fearing they would miss oil, and then techniques developed, and they found new deposits and all the rest, and peak oil still hasn't materialized. We believe that in investing in exploration and exploration techniques as well as in mining techniques” will increase the uranium sources available and will cater for the “medium term”, which he categorized as the next forty to fifty years. In the longer term, he said that recycling was a big focus.
With respect to conversion and enrichment he said that production had been expanded over the past few years. Orano plans to extend enrichment capacity at its Georges Besse II uranium enrichment plant in France. Maes continued that the aim is for first concrete for the extension in October this year, targeting the start of production in 2028. He said that expanded capacity required a “massive investment compared to our scale and that can only be done if we've got visibility, and the utilities support us in doing that”. For LEU and HALEU, he said that the technologies exist, but it was “chicken and egg stuff from the market”, and transport issues need to addressed. For MOX-fuel based fast breeder and molten salt reactors he said that the designers should be “thinking from the very early days about the fuel supply chain because that fuel supply chain doesn't exist yet” and also that “standardization is key”.
He added that “we need strong decision-making and timely decision-making from politicians. We need creative financing schemes, and we need the industry to deliver on time and on budget”.
Jonathan Chavers is the Director of Nuclear Fuel and Analysis at Southern Nuclear. He said that there was a chicken and egg situation between the suppliers and end users. “Utilities desire firm pricing, predictable scheduling. The suppliers want firm contracts before they'll make the capital investments to get you the material you want on the schedule you want” and that the question is how to get people “to take the big bet”. He mentioned as a success the accident-tolerant fuel program “where you have policymakers, utilities and suppliers all aligned and working together”.
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