NNSA awards Reliable Fuel Supply contract
02 July 2007
Wesdyne International and Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) have been awarded a contract by the US Department of Energy's (DoE's) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to down-blend 17.4 tonnes of surplus US highly enriched uranium (HEU).
Under the terms of the contract, NFS, a subcontractor, will down-blend the HEU to low-enriched uranium (LEU) at its Erwin, Tennessee, facility. The down-blending is scheduled to start in 2007 and to be completed in 2010. The down-blending will result in some 290 tonnes of LEU.
Wesdyne, the prime contractor, is a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Co. It will store the resulting LEU at the Westinghouse fuel fabrication plant in Columbia, South Carolina. This will form part of the Reliable Fuel Supply program and will be available for use in civilian reactors in countries not pursuing their own enrichment and reprocessing technologies. It will only be available to qualifying countries that face a disruption in supply that cannot be corrected through normal commercial means. The fuel would be sold at the current market price.
The down-blending, storage and operation of the reliable supply will be overseen and managed by NNSA, and the down-blending will be eligible for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). To cover the cost of the project, Wesdyne will sell part of the resulting LEU on the market over a three to four year period.
In 2005, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced that the USA would set aside 17.4 tonnes of HEU declared excess to the US nuclear weapons program. In November 2005, the NNSA requested proposals from companies interested in competing for the contract to down-blend the material.
"Setting up the Reliable Fuel Supply program demonstrates US leadership on non-proliferation by setting aside fuel for countries to use if supplies are disrupted so that they don't have to pursue sensitive fuel cycle programs on their own," said William Tobey, head of NNSA's nuclear non-proliferation programs.
Further information
Nuclear Fuel Services
Wesdyne International
National Nuclear Security Administration
US Department of Energy
WNA's Military Warheads as a Source of Nuclear Fuel information paper
WNA's Safeguards to Prevent Nuclear Proliferation information paper
WNA's US Nuclear Power Industry information paper
WNN: Reliable Fuel Supply project gains momentum