Potential Acceptance and Disposition of Spent Nuclear Fuel Containing U.S.-Origin Highly Enriched Uranium from the Federal Republic of Germany

The United States (US) Department of Energy (DOE) has been approached by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany to provide a potential option for the disposition of irradiated, graphite cladded spent nuclear fuel (SNF) containing US origin highly enriched uranium (HEU), in the amount of 900 kilograms, prior to irradiation. This Departmental effort would support the US’ global HEU minimization policy objective of seeking to reduce and eventually eliminate HEU from civil commerce by removing US-origin HEU from Germany and returning it to the US for safe storage and disposition, and converting it into a form no longer usable for an improvised nuclear device, a radiological dispersal device, or other radiological exposure device. Scientists and engineers both at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Germany’s Forschungszentrum Jülich Research Center have collaborated on research and development. As a result, SRNL has developed a technology that dissolves the graphite matrix containing HEU [(U-Th)O2] fuel kernels. Preliminary results demonstrate a possibility in identifying a potential disposition path for the separated fuel kernels found encapsulated in the graphite spheres. Once the graphite matrix is separated from the fuel kernels, the kernels could be processed in the H-Canyon Chemical Separation Facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS). In accordance with the Department’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, DOE has prepared a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and it was issued for the public’s review and comment. The draft EA analyzed the environmental impacts associated with receiving, storing, processing, (management) and dispositioning of this material at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Completion of the EA does would not constitute a decision to accept the graphite cladded SNF from Germany.