Supply Chain Working Group

Vitally Important Role of the Nuclear Supply Chain

The nuclear Supply Chain is essential to efficient and effective support for design, development, construction and support of nuclear reactors in all phases of the life cycle.  With the Light Water Reactor (LWRs) energy portfolio increasing their operating lifetime as well as the future design and deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Advanced Reactors (ARs) and new fuel types, the supply chain is now more important than ever.

Vital Roles of the Supply Chain include the following:

• Source of industry Innovation
• Supplemental Contracting in Engineering, Outage Support and Site Services
• Hardware manufacturing and component replacements
• On-site and off-site testing and services
• Nuclear fuel and services
• Waste Management and radiation protection services
• Security services
• Technical Issue Resolution, Quality Assurance Augmentation, Training
• Development of new designs, products and services including Large Light Water Reactors, Small Modular Reactors and Advanced Reactors.

Supply Chain Working Group

The core of the Supply Chain is the Supply Chain Working Group (SCWG).  The working group is composed of member representatives who have an interest in supply chain business development, identification and resolution of gaps leading to a more productive business environment.  UNI will maintain a contact list for the working group.

The first activity of the SCWG will be to establish a Charter describing the Vision, Mission and Leadership expectations by the members.  The charter will also define major business objectives including the use of strategic plans, tactical plans and consensus work processes.

Leadership consists of the UNI Executive Director, UNI Director Supply Chain, and the SCWG Chair(s) who serve by consensus of the members.  The working group may create task forces to accomplish specific objectives and publish the results for members-only or public distribution.  UNI will maintain a contact list for each task force.

A project is the normal outcome of task force activity.  A white paper summarizing the project background, scope and schedule will be prepared for member evaluation before it is undertaken.  Completed projects will be reviewed in a UNI meeting and posted on the UNI Member Web Site.

The SCWG will establish and maintain an industry calendar of events including UNI Conferences, Member Meetings, Working Group Meetings and Task Force Meetings.   UNI will also include in the calendar other significant industry meetings of interest to the members.  Conferences and Meetings will be scheduled periodically to support completion of business objectives and also to facilitate communications among members and nuclear industry leaders.  Some meetings may be aligned with other calendar activities for the convenience of the members or for the purpose of coordinating with other industry calendar activities.  Efficient use of member resources is a primary consideration in the scheduling of UNI meetings and Webinars and conference calls will be used when appropriate.  Visits to member facilities may also be facilitated according to member interest.

Supply Chain Issues include but are not limited to the following:

• Sustainment of current LWR Fleet
• Development of US Nuclear Supply chain for nuclear construction
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Support for Advanced Micro-Reactors projects
• Development of Fuel Cycle products for Advanced Reactors
  • 18.75% fuel production and inventory
  • Core analysis product support for Fast Reactors (Liquid Sodium)
  • Build out of test facilities and core analysis for Fast Reactors (Molten Salt)
  • Other fuel cycle gaps
• Advanced Reactor development gaps
• Nuclear project financing
• Reactor project supply chain mapping
• Regional supply chain networks/localization
• Development of US Content in international projects
• Communications of nuclear project value to policy makers
• Communication of nuclear safety and value to the public
• Targeting high value nuclear research and development