A U.S. nuclear safety agency announced Wednesday it was expanding its low-grade nuclear fuel program. The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration said in a statement that it was pushing ahead with President George W. Bush's program "to provide reliable access to nuclear fuel for civilian reactors to countries that refrain from pursuing their own enrichment and reprocessing technologies.
The NNSA said it wanted to solicit "proposals to down-blend 17.4 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) into reactor grade fuel for use in the Reliable Fuel Supply program." The agency said the RFS program "also contributes to the administration's proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership."
"Establishing a reliable fuel supply supports the administration's twin goals of expanding the use of nuclear power and curbing nuclear proliferation," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman.
Last year, Bodman said the administration would set aside 17.4 metric tons of HEU to be down-blended to about 290 metric tons of low enriched uranium, worth approximately $750 million. "The fuel will be available to qualifying countries that face a disruption in supply that cannot be corrected through normal commercial means," the NNSA said.
"Down-blending this HEU will mark an important milestone in implementing the reliable fuel supply arrangement. Such a mechanism is essential if we are to avoid the uncontrolled spread of fuel cycle capabilities needed for producing nuclear fuel that can also be used for manufacturing nuclear weapons," said Linton F. Brooks, the NNSA administrator.
The NNSA said it hoped to award a contract for the proposal in early 2007. The agency said it believed the nuclear material it was providing would be "down-blended and available as a back up reserve in 2010."
Source: United Press International
