U.S. To Ship Tons of Uranium Across Globe for Nuke Energy Production

international | sci-tech | news report Saturday November 25, 2006 03:03 by Steve Peacock - ThePeacockReport.com stevepeacock at yahoo dot com Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA

Over 17 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) are slated for transfer into the hands of private contractors, whom under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy program will "down-blend" the weapons-grade material into nuclear reactor-friendly low-enriched uranium (LEU) -- which would then be shipped to foreign nations.

The purported goal of the project is to dissuade other countries from pursuing uranium enrichment weapons-development programs, a measure which the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) hopes to accomplish by providing those nations with the products necessary to move forward with nuclear energy initiatives.

The Reliable Fuel Supply program seeks to "ensure reliable access to nuclear fuel feedstock for power reactors in foreign countries...," according to a planning document that ThePeacockReport.com located through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. The Nov. 8 document further notes that "This material will provide a significant reserve that will increase the confidence of countries voluntarily choosing not to pursue enrichment and reprocessing that they will not risk losing the benefits of nuclear power."

The selected contractor will convert 17.5 MT of the highly enriched uranium into 40 MT of the low-enriched uranium, it said. NNSA's Office of Fissile Materials Disposition will oversee the activities of the vendor, who likewise will be responsible for transporting "a substantial majority" of the resulting low enriched uranium to an unnamed, designated storage facility.

NNSA did not specify what percentage of this "substantial majority" of LEU would be shipped internationally. Similarly, it vaguely noted that "much" of this reprocessed uranium would be given to the contractor as compensation for its efforts, separate from the execution of a "property loan agreement" to conduct the operation.

The agency plans to release a formal Request for Proposals for this endeavor sometime in late December or early January. It also said it expects to award a five-year contract by April or May 2007.