Russia's war in Ukraine has caused countries around the world to stop using Russian oil and natural gas.
Russia is a dominant player in global supply chains of nuclear reactor technology, which is why parallel conversations are imminent in the nuclear energy space.
There were 38 nuclear reactors in operation in Russia in the year 2021, and 42 of them were made with Russian nuclear reactor technology, as well as 15 more under construction by the end of the year.
Reducing or eliminating dependence on nuclear supply chains from Russia will be different for each country.
If a country has not yet built a nuclear reactor, they can decide not to contract with Russia. According to the paper, the U.S., France, Korea, and China are viable supplier options.
If a country already has Russian nuclear reactor models, VVERs, then it is likely that they will look to Russia for repair parts and services. The acronym for water-water energy reactor is ver, which means "water-water energy reactor" in Russian. According to the report, countries can get repair assistance from Westinghouse, which is based in Pennsylvania.
There is an issue of fuel. Nuclear reactor are fueled with enriched uranium.
According to the report, Russia mines about six percent of the raw uranium produced annually. If other countries increase their uranium mining, that amount can be replaced.
It is not possible to get uranium from a mine into a reactor. Before it can be used as fuel in a nuclear reactor, it has to be converted and enriched.
Russia is a dominant player. In 2020, Russia owned 40% of the world's total uranium conversion infrastructure, and 42% of the world's total enrichment capacity, according to the report. According to the report authors, this was the most up-to-date data publicly available.
This is where the U.S. and allied countries would need to focus their attention, according to a report co-authored by a former under secretary of Energy for Science at the Department of Energy.
In Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, there are enrichment and conversion capabilities.
It's not clear if the capacity will be able to replace the Russian capacity, but it's enough to replace at least some of the conversion and enrichment that Western nuclear reactor need.
The U.S. needs to be prepared for fuel that goes into advanced reactor, which are currently in development, and require uranium enriched to 15 to 19.75%, where conventional light water reactor that are currently in operation in the United States use between 3 to 5 %.
According to the report, this fuel is only available at a commercial scale from Russia.
The Western nuclear fuel chains may need more investment in mining, conversion, and enrichment facilities.
Private companies need the government's commitment to not reverting to Russian supplies to convince them of the need for infrastructure.
They are worried that in a year or two, Russian products will be allowed back into national markets and will undermine them, causing them to lose out on their investments.
In the United States, there is only one facility that converts U.S.-based nuclear fuel into other fuels. According to a power point presentation from the partnership between General Atomics and Honeywell that operates the plant, ConverDyn, its reopening is pending market improvement and customer support. It will not be able to return to operability until at least 2023, when it can convert 7,000 tons of uranium per year. It will take one plant longer to reach 15,000 tons per year.
It would be wise for the United States to wean off Russian confinement capacity for a period of years not months.
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