Year
1972
Abstract
ith over 100,000 MWe of nuclear generating capacity committed to date in the USA, there surely can be no doubt in any utility executive's mind that somewhere, somehow his system is going to be dependent on the re- liable and economic operation of nuclear power plants. I'm sure that con- ferences of this type are directly responsive to this realization. Judging from the amount of verbiage emanating from conferences such as this, from the coverage in the media, from the number of consultants offering services, there are a number of prevailing philosophies regarding the theory and practice of nuclear fuel management. We are here today to discuss these sometimes di- vergent, prevailing philosophies. Before we do that, I'd first like to discuss a few basic thoughts so that we have a common point of departure. In my estimation, we're really here today to answer three ques- tions. First, should a utility get involved in the details of nuclear fuel management? The question emphasizes the details because, as you'll soon see, there is a definition of nuclear fuel management that is very broad and hence covers services that a utility would rarely consider buying or delegating to someone else to perform. Therefore, on a de facto basis, most utilities are already engaged in some aspects of nuclear fuel management.