How would you design a HALEU Consortium? The DOE wants to know

摘要

The Department of Energy asks no fewer than 21 multipart questions in its request for information on plans to set up a new program to ensure the availability of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) in the United States, encompassing the who, what, where, when, and how of HALEU enrichment, deconversion, fabrication, and transportation. Interested parties were initially given 30 days from the December 14 announcement to send in their input to the DOE; the deadline was later extended by one month, to February 14. Most of the advanced reactors under development in the United States require HALEU fuel-enriched up to 19.75 percent uranium-235-to achieve smaller designs, longer operating cycles, and increased efficiencies, but HALEU is not available at commercial scale from domestic suppliers. Limited U.S. stocks of high-enriched uranium (which can be downblended to create HALEU) are already earmarked for defense and nonproliferation missions and other government programs, including medical isotope production and NASA space exploration.