THE UNITED STATES FOREIGN RESEARCH REACTOR SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL ACCEPTANCE PROGRAM: PROGRAM STATUS

The United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE), in consultation with the Department of State, adopted the Nuclear Weapons Nonproliferation Policy Concerning Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel in May 1996 establishing the Foreign Research Reactor (FRR) Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Acceptance Program. After approximately 10 years of implementation, significant changes to the program have occurred. In April 2004, the Secretary directed DOE to undertake an analysis, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, to consider potential extension of the Program and to re-organize the program under the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) new Office of Global Nuclear Material Threat Reduction. The policy was slated to expire May 12, 2009. Subsequently, program management transitioned to NNSA and the program was extended for an additional 10 years. This paper also will address the current status of program implementation in terms of shipments, quantity of material repatriated, transportation considerations, and interim storage of nuclear material.