FULL REPLA CEMENT OF RUSSIAN-ORIGIN HEU FUEL BYLEU FUEL IN THE RESEARCH REACTOR VR-1.

The Czech Technical University's Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering (CTU) has been successfully operating its research nuclear reactor VR-1 since 1990. Within the scope of the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) programme, that was initiated by the United States Department of Energy (DOE), CTU is to convert VR-1 from the use of Russian made fuels, IRT-2M and IRT- 3M containing highly-enriched uranium (HEU, enrichment: 36 % 235U), to the use of a Russian fuel, IRT-4M containing low enriched uranium (LEU, enrichment: 19.7 % 235U). This mission is consistent with the global non-proliferation policy goal of minimizing the use of highly-enriched uranium in civil programmes worldwide. After a brief description of the research reactor's current status within CTU, numerous challenges related to such a fuel change are discussed. Technical, computational, safety, contract, legal, and economic issues are described as well as the international effort which is planned to lead to the fuel swap being completed during the autumn 2005. Even in a complex environment where DOE as an investor, the State Office of Nuclear Safety (SONS) as a regulatory body, CTU as a user, two Russian suppliers, several Czech subcontractors, and International Atomic Energy Agency must agree on the same terms how the Russian-origin HEU is to be repatriated from the Czech Republic to Russia and at the same time to be replaced by the Russian-made LEU, the process will be finalised in a smooth manner that will not disrupt the CTU education programme for the reactor.