![]() ![]() Overall the blending down of 500 tonnes of Russian HEU resulted in about 14,446 tonnes of LEU over 20 years. In the latter years it supplied about 13% of world uranium demand. This is equivalent to an average of 8850 t/yr of U 3O 8 from mines over the 20 years. About 150,000 t of natural uranium was exchanged for the LEU, of which 112,000 t sold on the market under the terms of the 1999 feed agreement and 38,000 t sent to Russia. It was essentially an enrichment deal totalling about 90 million SWU. USEC took possession of the material there and shipped it to the USA where it was included in USEC’s inventory for delivery to customers. The LEU is transferred to shipping cylinders and sent to a collection point in St. The resulting highly enriched uranium hexafluoride is then mixed in a gaseous stream with slightly enriched uranium to form LEU suitable for commercial nuclear reactors. * HEU metal is first removed from a warhead, machined into shavings, oxidized and fluorinated. The HEU was progressively blended down to 14,446 t of LEU in Russia, using 1.5% U-235 (re-enriched depleted uranium tails), to restrict levels of U-234 and U-236 in the final product to western specifications.* USEC then sold the LEU to its utility customers as fuel. The LEU enrichment levels specified in the agreement were 3.6%, 4.0%, 4.4% and 4.95%, though it is understood that 4.4% was typical, and possibly that used in the later years of the agreement. ![]() USEC purchased 500 tonnes of weapons-grade HEU over 20 years to 2013, at a rate of up to 30 tonnes/year from 1999. In 1994, a US$13 billion implementing contract was signed between the US Enrichment Corporation (now USEC Inc) and Russia's Techsnabexport (Tenex) as executive agents for the US and Russian governments. Under this Russia would convert 500 tonnes of HEU from warheads and military stockpiles (equivalent to around 20,000 bombs) to LEU to be bought by the USA for use in civil nuclear reactors. Surplus weapons-grade HEU resulting from the various disarmament agreements led in 1993 to an agreement between the US and Russian governments. Megatons to Megawatts, the Russian HEU dealĬommitments by the USA and Russia to convert nuclear weapons into fuel for electricity production was known as the Megatons to Megawatts program. Military plutonium can blended with uranium oxide to form mixed oxide (MOX) fuel.Īfter LEU or MOX is burned in power reactors, the spent fuel is not suitable for weapons manufacture. World stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium are reported to be some 260 tonnes, which if used in mixed oxide fuel in conventional reactors would be equivalent to a little over one year's world uranium production. ![]() * according to TradeTech: Russia 720 t +/- 120 t, USA 600 t. Highly-enriched uranium in US and Russian weapons and other military stockpiles amounts to about 1500 tonnes*, equivalent to about seven times annual world mine production. It is blended with depleted uranium (mostly U-238), natural uranium (0.7% U-235), or partially-enriched uranium. HEU can be blended down with uranium containing low levels of U-235 to produce low-enriched uranium (LEU), less than 5% U-235, fuel for power reactors. The main weapons material is highly enriched uranium (HEU), containing at least 20% uranium-235 (U-235) and usually about 90% U-235. A 1993 agreement covered essentially the enrichment component of this material, but left unresolved the question of feed from mines, and a 1999 agreement dealt with what happened to the feed material. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a unique opportunity arose to deploy military weapons material for making electricity. Nuclear materials declared surplus to military requirements by the USA and Russia have been converted into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Since 1987 the United States and countries of the former USSR have signed a series of disarmament treaties to reduce the nuclear arsenals by about 80%. This gave way to a focus on the role of military uranium as a major source of fuel for commercial nuclear power. Highly-enriched uranium from weapons stockpiles has been displacing some 8850 tonnes of U 3O 8 production from mines each year, and met about 13% to 19% of world reactor requirements through to 2013.įor more than five decades, concern has centred on the possibility that uranium intended for commercial nuclear power might be diverted for use in weapons.Weapons-grade plutonium has over 93% Pu-239 and can be used, like reactor-grade plutonium, in fuel for electricity production. Weapons-grade uranium is highly enriched, to over 90% U-235 (the fissile isotope).Weapons-grade uranium and plutonium surplus to military requirements in the USA and Russia is being made available for use as civil fuel.Military Warheads as a Source of Nuclear Fuel ![]()
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