Reducing the Use of Highly Enriched Uranium in Civilian Research Reactors (2016) / Chapter Skim
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5 Nontechnical Obstacles to Reactor Conversion
5 Nontechnical Obstacles to Reactor Conversion
Pages 97-106
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From page 97... ...
fuel, or the decision to shut down HEU-fueled research reactors, depends at least as much upon financial, organizational, diplomatic, and political factors as upon technical factors. Several of the conversion steps discussed in Chapter 4 require actions and decisions that are primarily nontechnical, beginning with agreement by a host country to consider conversion of one or more of its research reactors.
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From page 98... ...
The committee learned about Russian scientific priorities and how they affect its domestic research reactor conversion decisions. The conversion of Russian research reactors is of particular importance to the nonproliferation goal of eliminating the use of HEU in civilian applications because greater than 40 percent of the civilian research reactors using HEU fuel are located within Russia (see Table 2.2 and Figure 2.3a)
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From page 99... ...
Although conversion progress has been halting, there has been notable progress in recent years. The technical arguments against conversion for most of the Russian research reactors to LEU fuel have dissipated since 2010, as discussed below, but there remains little political support to convert domestic Russian research reactors.
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From page 100... ...
Early in the nonproliferation effort, the Soviet Union rejected the idea of converting its domestic research reactors because civilian HEU use was not seen as a proliferation risk in light of the fact that the former Soviet Union was a nuclear weapon state. Beginning in 2012, a U.S.-Russia collaboration supported a study on the feasibility of converting six Russian research reactors to LEU fuel.7 The study led to the conversion of one reactor (Argus reactor at the Kurchatov Institute)
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From page 101... ...
However, the RBT reactors use partially burned HEU fuel from the SM-3 reactor as their fuel source.8 Because Russia has no plans to change the current fuel utilization scheme between the two reactors and the SM-3 reactor cannot convert to LEU fuel without impacting its performance, the RBT reactors will not convert either. The conversion of Russia's domestic civilian research reactors is largely a matter of priorities and economic challenges, coupled with resistance on the part of reactor operators and users (a problem not confined to Russia)
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From page 102... ...
collaboration on research reactor conver sion that had been stable for several decades has all but ceased during the past year. Russia is no longer willing to accept funding from the United States for conversions of its domestic civilian research reactors (a previous approach that led to feasibility studies and the only con version of a domestic Russian research reactor)
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From page 103... ...
In many cases, engagement with international bodies or multiple countries is a key to successful navigation of the path to HEU minimization. For example, the Nuclear Security Summits provide incentives to individual research reactor sites to encourage conversion, such as paying for fuel loads or facility upgrades.
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From page 104... ...
ENCOURAGING EXAMPLES OF OVERCOMING INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGES IN REACTOR CONVERSIONS Although the nontechnical obstacles confronting civilian research reactor conversions may seem daunting, there has been significant success in dealing with them, particularly through the engagement of international agencies and multiple countries. Examples of research reactor conversions that were technically "straightforward" but impeded by a variety of nontechnical obstacles are illustrated in this concluding section.
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From page 105... ...
. Desire for an International, Rather than Bilateral, Framework The Mexican government wished to convert its research reactor to LEU and arrange for spent fuel take-back under an international framework rather than under a bilateral country-to-country agreement.
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From page 106... ...
For example, the Libyan government decided to convert its research reactor to LEU fuel, but it had safety concerns because the new LEU fuel had not been previously used to operate a research reactor. Addressing these concerns required engagement of an international fuel expert who worked with a Libyan counterpart to assess the quality control at the Russian facility responsible for fabricating the LEU fuel.
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