Fabrication: The Unique Factor in the Fuel Cycle – 2009 Report
A Global Review and Analysis of the Fuel Fabrication Markets
The Ux Consulting Company (UxC) is pleased to present the 2009 Fabrication Market Outlook (FMO), which is the third annual edition in this series. This year’s report incorporates a number of significant additions in our continuing efforts to enhance information exchange and understanding in the global nuclear fuel fabrication market.
Fuel fabrication differs greatly from the other steps in the fuel cycle. Its high technical content, need for regulatory approval, and the restriction of fuel assemblies to specific reactors require a unique approach to its analysis. For 2009, UxC and its consultant, Joel Gingold, with over forty years experience in the fuel fabrication industry, have prepared a comprehensive and up-to-date report addressing the commercial, economic, institutional, and technical aspects of fuel fabrication.
To those with little knowledge of fuel fabrication and its markets, this report can serve as a primer providing a solid background and understanding of how its markets function. To those knowledgeable in the fundamentals, it offers analyses of a variety of its aspects based on several decades of participation. To those who are actively involved in the industry, it supplies additional insights to assist in the improvement of existing nuclear fuel programs and in the development of new ones.
What’s New in the 2009 FMO?
For the first time, we have included a topical essay, which sets out our analysis of a major issue in nuclear fuel fabrication: the numerous new alignments, joint ventures, and initiatives between fabricators, which will shape the industry in the years ahead.
To provide additional insight into the international fabrication market, we conducted a survey of international utilities asking for their views of the state of the market, current and future pricing trends, procurement preferences, and similar issues. The survey results are presented in the FMO.
This year’s fuel fabrication demand projection is based on the new UxC Requirements Model (URM), which, beginning with a forecast of nuclear power growth, calculates demand on a reactor-by-reactor, cycle-by-cycle basis and is more accurate than the forecasts used in prior years.
As in the past, the focus of the FMO is fuel for Light Water Reactors (LWRs), i.e., Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) and Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs); however, in this edition, we have added a chapter on fuel fabrication for Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), the Gas Cooled reactors operating in the United Kingdom (Magnox, AGR), and Light water cooled, Graphite moderated Reactors (LGR) in Russia (e.g. RBMKs).
In addition to extending our supply and demand data to 2030, our updated report includes specific year-by-year fabrication price forecasts to 2030, including explanations of how fabrication prices are initially formulated.
Chapters in the 2009 FMO include:
- Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Market Primer
- Essay: Changing Partners – Shifting Alliances in the Fabrication Industry
- Reactor Developments and Fabrication Demand Outlook
- Utility Procurement Approaches and Contracting Issues
- The World’s Nuclear Fuel Fabricators
- Supply and Demand Analysis
- Global and Regional Market Analysis
- Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Prices
- Non-LWR Fabrication Markets
Please see our product flier and table of contents
in Adobe Acrobat PDF  format.
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