U.S. HEU Disposition
Program
Robert M. George
Office of Fissile Materials Disposition
International Nuclear Materials
Management Annual Meeting
July 2009
The U.S. HEU Disposition Program
• NNSA’s U.S. HEU Disposition Program is a key
nonproliferation program that down-blends surplus
HEU and uses the derived LEU in commercial and
research reactors.
• Commercial down-blend contractors include:
– Babcock and Wilcox
– Nuclear Fuel Services
• Nuclear fuel fabricators have also been involved in
down-blending projects – AREVA and WesDyne
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HEU Disposition Paths
1994 Surplus HEU Declaration — 174 MT (156 commercially usable + 18 discards)
USEC
Transfer
Material
TVA Off-Spec
(BLEU)
Material
Research
Reactor Fuel
Feed
Reliable
Fuel
Supply
14 MT
47 MT
51 MT
6 MT
17 MT
Portsmouth
Gaseous
Diffusion Plant
Babcock & Wilcox
Nuclear Operations
Div.
Savannah River
Site and Nuclear
Fuel Services, Inc.
TVA
Completed
Spent
Fuel and
Low
Equity
Discards
16 MT
18 MT
~10 MT
Disposal as waste
New 12 MT HEU
Project—TBD
Y-12
Uncommitted
2005 Material
~7 MT*
In progress
2009-2011
Uncommitted
1994
Material
NFS
RRF Feed ~4 MT
Disposition Timing
~5 MT
UF6
~40 MT*
Not yet planned
Discards TBD
2005 Declaration — ~61 MT
* This ~51 MT of HEU is part of the 200 MT additional HEU removed from use as fissile
material in weapons in Fall 2005; it consists of 20 MT designated for downblending plus an
estimated 31 MT (out of 160 MT) that is expected to be rejected for use by Naval Reactors.
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Revised 5/12/08
USEC HEU Transfer
• The USEC HEU Transfer project, mandated by the
USEC Privatization Act, was completed during 2006.
– The down-blending was
completed at Babcock &
Wilcox in Lynchburg, VA
in June 2006.
– A total of 46.6 MT HEU, at
an average assay of
43.7%, was delivered and
down-blended to make
over 800 MT of
commercial-grade LEU.
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TVA Off-Spec “BLEU” Program
• DOE and TVA entered an
Interagency Agreement in 2001
- With addition of EU Disposition Project
material, it now covers ~45.6 MTU
- TVA is using blended low-enriched
uranium (BLEU) fuel in the Browns
Ferry and Sequoyah Nuclear Plants.
Browns Ferry Nuclear
Power Plant
- Down-blending occurs at two
facilities:
- Savannah River Site, Aiken, SC –
solutions, alloyed metals, oxides (~22.6
MTU)
- Nuclear Fuel Services, Erwin, TN –
uranium metal, alloyed metals,
compounds (~ 23 MTU)
- As of the end of June 2009, 38 MTU has
been down-blended
Lead assembly being
inspected at TVA’s
Sequoyah Plant
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TVA Off-Spec Program (Cont.)
• BLEU project HEU shipments were
completed in 2008
• 40 MT Down-blending will be completed
in fall of 2009 (~95% complete)
• Additional down-blending of EU
Disposition Project material will occur
in 2009 & 2010
• Savings to the U.S. Treasury are
expected to be over $255 million.
Broken Button
• This program has won many awards
–
2003 Secretary of Energy’s Project Management
Award – SRS Line Item
–
2005 Platt’s Global Energy Engineering Project of
the Year – BLEU/Off-Spec Partnership
–
2006 NEI Top Industry Practice (TIP) award – BLEU
Project
–
Several Other Internal TVA Awards
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H Canyon EU Disposition Project
• NNSA has identified 20.8 MT of HEU that could result
in up to 250 MT of additional off-spec LEU over the
2009 through 2020 time period.
• The HEU would be recovered and
down-blended at SRS H Canyon
Complex.
• NNSA and TVA have agreed to
mutually beneficial terms to add
an initial 5.6 MT of the material
Super Kukla Ring size reduction
to the existing Interagency Agreement.
• Incremental additions of the remaining material into
the TVA Off-Spec Fuel Project may occur as funding
becomes available.
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Reliable Fuel Supply Initiative (RFS)
• Secretary Bodman announced the RFS
initiative for foreign users who do not
pursue enrichment and reprocessing at
IAEA’s General Conference in September
2005.
• 17.4 MT of HEU will be down-blended to
produce about 290 MT LEU, a substantial
majority of which will be used as a
stockpile for the RFS program.
• The RFS program will ensure that, in the
event nuclear fuel is not available
commercially, there will be reliable
access to the market.
MTR Type Fuel Element
Cast Metal Slugs
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RFS General Status
• In June 2007, NNSA awarded a
downblending and storage contract to the
WesDyne / NFS team.
• Through June 2009, NNSA has shipped
over 15 MT of HEU for the RFS project.
• Processing of the HEU began in March
2008 and through June 2009, over 5.6 MT
has been down-blended to date.
• The down-blending program will be
completed in 2010.
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12.1 MTU HEU Downblending
Project
• HEU will be down-blended during the 2009–
2012 time period.
• Project will provide total derived LEU of
about 220 MTU
• Inventory reserved for use by MOX project
if needed.
• Down-blending and storage contract
awarded June 23 to WesDyne/NFS team.
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Foreign Research Reactor LEU Fuel
DOE/NNSA Supplies 80% of the world’s LEU research
reactor fuel with down-blended HEU
• Material is provided in support of the
Reduced Enrichment for Research and
Test Reactors (RERTR) program, which
reduces civil uses of HEU worldwide.
RA-6 Reactor,
Bariloche,
Argentina
• U.S. surplus HEU (10 MT) is feed
material to make LEU fuel (mostly
19.75% enrichment).
• 2.9 MT down-blended to date
• Customers in Europe, Canada, Asia,
South America, Australia
CEA
OSIRIS
Reactor,
France
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What Does the Future Hold?
• The program has already committed to downblending projects 161MT of the total 217 MT of
surplus, commercially-usable HEU.
• The remaining 56 MT is expected to become
available for down-blending from now through 2050.
• Future focus is:
– Continue progress in down-blending HEU to meet
nonproliferation objectives
– Proper disposition of derived LEU in a manner that does
not adversely impact the commercial nuclear fuel markets
– Develop future projects from unallocated HEU inventories
using a viable funding approach
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HEU Deliveries for Down-blending
(Actual and Projected as of March 2009)
HEU Deliveries for Dow n-Blending
11,000
H-Canyon EU Disposition
10,000
12 MTU HEU Project
9,000
Uncomitted Off-Spec
8,000
Uncomitted On-Spec
RFS
KgU of HEU
7,000
Research Reactor
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Fis cal Ye ar
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Final thoughts
• Through June 2009, this program has eliminated
the proliferation risk of approximately 124 MTU of
HEU, which equates to approximately 2,773
nuclear warheads.
• Several DOE facilities have been able to eliminate
or greatly reduce their holdings of HEU.
• The LEU derived from down-blending the U.S.
HEU equates to ~1,400 MTU.
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