Reducing the Use of Highly Enriched Uranium in Civilian Research Reactors (2016) / Chapter Skim
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2 Research Reactors Currently Using HEU Fuel
2 Research Reactors Currently Using HEU Fuel
Pages 21-36
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From page 21... ...
One of the greatest barriers to implementing acts of nuclear terrorism and proliferation is obtaining enough weapon-usable fissile2 material to make a weapon. Without sufficient plutonium, highly enriched uranium (HEU)
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From page 22... ...
HEU in civilian stocks is often less well protected than military stores. In particular, many civilian research reactor facilities are small and less well funded than military installations.
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From page 23... ...
It drops sharply as the enrichment level increases. The bare critical mass of W-HEU (greater than 90 percent 235U)
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From page 24... ...
For example, fresh or lightly irradiated HEU fuel poses a greater threat than spent, highly irradiated fuel, b ecause the radioactivity from spent fuel provides an additional barrier to theft or removal and r ecovery of the enriched uranium requires chemical separation. A good example of research reactor facilities that pose such a risk are critical and subcritical assemblies that store a large amount of lightly irradiated HEU (hundreds to thousands of kilograms)
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From page 25... ...
both optimizes reactor performance and minimizes proliferation risks associated with the fuel.11 It is worth noting that DOE's scale of material attractiveness for nuclear weapons material assigns a lower "attractiveness level" to material that is less than 50 percent enriched in 235U (compared to material above this threshold) .12 In some circumstances, there may be concerns that a proliferator could enrich a batch of LEU research reactor fuel to obtain weapon-grade material, for example, enriching fuel material from 20 percent to 90 percent 235U.
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From page 26... ...
PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS THREAT OF CIVILIAN USE OF HEU The U.S. effort to convert civilian research reactors using HEU fuel has benefited from sustained bipartisan support over several decades from both the White House and Congress.
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Given new concerns about nuclear terrorism, the conversion effort included research reactors using HEU fuel that were neither U.S. nor Russian designed.
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From page 28... ...
LIST OF CIVILIAN RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS THAT OPERATE USING HEU FUEL An IAEA technical meeting in January 2006 was the first international effort to compile an official list of HEU-fueled research reactors worldwide. The Academies also made an effort to compile a list of HEU-fueled research reactors as part of the 2009 study on Medical Isotope Production Without Highly Enriched Uranium (NRC, 2009)
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From page 29... ...
. Task 1 of the charge for the present committee is to provide "a list of civilian research and test reactors that operate using HEU fuel" (emphasis added)
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From page 30... ...
Appendix E contains a meeting synopsis, the list of civilian research reactors currently operating with HEU fuel established by the meeting participants, and a participant list. The committee carefully reviewed the list produced from this IAEAAcademies meeting and decided to adopt it with the addition of two reactors: the Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR)
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From page 31... ...
Critical Assembly 27 Japan KUCA (Wet Core) Critical Assembly 28 Japan UTR Kinki Steady State 29 Kazakhstan IGR Pulsed Reactor 30 Kazakhstan IVG-1M Steady State 31 Kazakhstan WWR-K Steady State 32 Nigeria NIRR-1 (MNSR)
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32 REDUCING THE USE OF HEU IN CIVILIAN RESEARCH REACTORS TABLE 2.2 Continued Country Reactor Reactor Type 34 Russia AKSAMIT Critical Assembly 35 Russia ASTRA Critical Assembly 36 Russia BARS-4 Pulsed Reactor 37 Russia BARS-6 Pulsed Reactor 38 Russia BFS-1 Fast Critical Assembly 39 Russia BFS-2 Fast Critical Assembly 40 Russia BOR-60 Fast Reactor 41 Russia CA MIR.M1 Critical Assembly 42 Russia DELTA Critical Assembly 43 Russia EFIR-2M Critical Assembly 44 Russia FM PIK Critical Assembly 45 Russia FS-1M Critical Assembly 46 Russia GIDRA Pulsed Reactor 47 Russia IR-8 Steady State 48 Russia IRT-MEPhI Steady State 49 Russia IRT-T Steady State 50 Russia IVV-2M Steady State 51 Russia K-1 Critical Assembly 52 Russia KVANT Critical Assembly 53 Russia MAKET Critical Assembly 54 Russia MIR.M1 Steady State 55 Russia NARCISS-M2 Critical Assembly 56 Russia OR Steady State 57 Russia PIK Steady State 58 Russia RBT-10/2 Steady State 59 Russia RBT-6 Steady State 60 Russia SM-3 Steady State 61 Russia SM-3 CA Critical Assembly 62 Russia ST-1125 Critical Assembly 63 Russia ST-659 Critical Assembly 64 Russia WWR-M Steady State 65 Russia WWR-Ts Steady State 66 Syria SRR-1 (MNSR) Steady State 67 United States ATR Steady State
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From page 33... ...
included critical facilities and pulsed reactors but excluded defense-oriented reactors specifically because the statement of task directed it to focus on civilian research reactors. Figures 2.3a and b highlight two distributions of these remaining reactors: Figure 2.3a shows the distribution of reactors by country, and Figure 2.3b shows the approximate annual consumption of HEU by reactor (Figure 2.3b presents an estimation of annual HEU consumption; actual consumption depends on factors including standard [not maximum]
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From page 34... ...
Figure 2.3a identifies countries with four or more reactors; 15 countries have three or fewer research reactors currently operating with HEU fuel. In Figure 2.3b, three of the top seven are in the United States (ATR with 120 kg, HFIR with 80 kg, and MURR with 24 kg approximate annual consumption)
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From page 35... ...
As discussed previously in this report, the JHR is expected to start full operations with HEU fuel and plans to convert to LEU once a suitable fuel is available. The PIK reactor in Russia recently began operations at 100 W
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From page 36... ...
36 REDUCING THE USE OF HEU IN CIVILIAN RESEARCH REACTORS Finding 2: Although the committee addressed its Task 1 requirement, which is limited to civilian research and test reactors, it supports the 2009 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine guid ance to retain a larger list of reactors using HEU fuel that could poten tially be converted to LEU fuel.
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