Supply Chain
About
The Supply Chain criterion evaluates the availability and maturity of suppliers required to manufacture, fabricate, and deliver key reactor components and fuel. Supply chain readiness matters for design selection because it affects procurement risk, construction sequencing, and the feasibility of repeatable deployment.
This criterion focuses on the current maturity of supply chains for key reactor components and fuel. The indicators provide a practical basis for comparing how different reactor designs align with scalable manufacturing and delivery capacity. The criterion accounts for the global availability of these goods and services, not domestic supply chains.
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Indicator Breakdown
Weight 60%
Key Component Availability
Core question
To what extent are commercial or pilot-scale suppliers available for the reactor’s major components?
Key Component Availability assesses the availability of suppliers for major reactor components, such as the reactor vessel, heat exchangers, coolant systems, moderator, and instrumentation and control systems. This assessment captures manufacturing maturity, supplier diversity, and the likelihood of procurement bottlenecks during construction.
Coding rules
- 1 — Robust commercial supply chain for many components
- 2 — Robust commercial supply chain for all components
Weight 40%
Fuel Availability
Core question
Are suppliers available for both fuel fabrication and enrichment required by the reactor design?
Fuel Availability evaluates the availability of suppliers for nuclear fuel, including fabrication and enrichment. This evaluation captures dependence on specialized infrastructure and fuel-cycle readiness to support deployment beyond first-of-a-kind projects.
Coding rules
- 0 — No suppliers for either fuel fabrication or enrichment
- 1 — One pilot-scale or low-volume supplier for either fuel fabrication or enrichment, but not both
- 2 — One pilot-scale or low-volume supplier for both fabrication and enrichment; or, one high-volume commercial supplier for fabrication or enrichment, but not both
- 3 — One pilot-scale or low-volume supplier for either fabrication or enrichment and one high-volume commercial supplier for the other
- 4 — High-volume commercial suppliers for both fabrication and enrichment
