LEU for Vietnamese research reactor

11 September 2007

Low-enriched uranium (LEU) nuclear fuel has been delivered to Vietnam's Dalat research reactor, a 500 kWt pool-type reactor of Russian VVR-M design. The unit has been converted from using high-enriched uranium (HEU) at 36% uranium-235, to LEU at under 20%. This conversion was carried out under the Russian-American Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program which seeks to increase global security by reducing the number of facilities using HEU, which at some enrichment levels could in theory be used in nuclear weapon s. The fuelwas manufactured by TVEL of Russia at Novosibirsk. The company has alsosupplied LEU to the VR-1 reactor operated by the Czech TechnicalUniversity in Prague, and the reactor unit at Tajoura Nuclear ResearchCentre in Libya.

Further information


TVEL

WNA's Research Reactors information paper

WNN: Vietnam: Research reactor converts to LEU