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The U.S. HEU Disposition Program

U.S. HEU Disposition Program Robert M. George HEU Disposition Program Manager Office of Fissile Materials Disposition. The U.S. HEU Disposition Program.

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The U.S. HEU Disposition Program

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  1. U.S. HEU Disposition ProgramRobert M. GeorgeHEU Disposition Program ManagerOffice of Fissile Materials Disposition

  2. 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. • HEU Down-blenders include: • Y-12 • Savannah River Site • Babcock and Wilcox • B&W - Nuclear Fuel Services • Nuclear fuel fabricators– AREVA and Wesdyne

  3. HEU Disposition Paths 1994 Surplus HEU Declaration — 174 MT (156 commercially usable + 18 discards) Spent Fuel and Low Equity Discards Reliable Fuel Supply Uncom-mitted 1994 Material UF6 USEC Transfer Material TVA Off-Spec (BLEU) Material TVA(H Canyon EU Disp.) ~11 MT Research Reactor LEU Fuel Feed MOX Reserve ~5 MT 14 MT 47 MT 40 MT 6 MT 17 MT 16 MT 18 MT Disposal as waste Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Div. NFS Savannah River Site and Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. TBD Y-12 Disposition Timing Uncommitted 2005 Material TVA(H Canyon EU Disp.) RRF Feed Completed In progress2009-2011 Not yet planned Discards TBD MOX Reserve~7 MT* ~4 MT* ~10 MT ~40 MT* 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 the Fall of 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. Revised 2-5-09

  4. 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.

  5. Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant Lead assembly being inspected at TVA’s Sequoyah Plant 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. • 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 March 2009, 37.5 MTU has been down-blended

  6. Broken Button 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 2009 – 2011 • Savings to the U.S. Treasury are expected to be over $255 million. • 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

  7. Super Kukla Ring size reduction 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 through 2019. • 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 HEU material to the existing Interagency Agreement. • Options for additional material as funding becomes available.

  8. 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

  9. RFS General Status • In June 2007, NNSA awarded a downblending and storage contract to the WesDyne / NFS team. • To date, NNSA has shipped nearly 14 MT of HEU for the RFS project. • Processing of the HEU began in March 2008 and over 4 MT has been down-blended to date producing 66 MT of LEU. • The down-blending program will be completed in 2010.

  10. 12.1 MTU HEU Downblending Project • New HEU disposition project similar to RFS. • HEU will be down-blended during the 2009–2012 time period. • Project will provide total derived LEU of about 224 MTU— Used in MOX Reserve • Down-blending and storage contract award and first shipments in FY 2009.

  11. 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. • U.S. surplus HEU (10 MT) is feed material to make LEU fuel (mostly 19.75% enrichment). • 2.5MT down-blended to date • Customers in Europe, Canada, Asia, South America, Australia RA-6 Reactor, Bariloche, Argentina CEA OSIRIS Reactor, France

  12. What Does the Future Hold? • The program has already committed to down-blending 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

  13. HEU Deliveries for Down-blending(Actual and Projected)

  14. Final thoughts • Through March 2009 this program has eliminated the proliferation risk from over 121 MTU of HEU. • 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 1,375 MTU. • HEU availability for down-blending creates unique challenges.

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