EXPANDING RUSSIAN HEU BLEND DOWN

One of the most successful US-Russian cooperative nuclear projects has been the US-Russia Highly Enriched Uranium Purchase Agreement, which has eliminated over 300 metric tons worth of highly enriched uranium (HEU), representing the destruction of over 12,000 Russian nuclear weapons. Building on research presented in 2005 and 2007 on accelerating Russian blend down activities, this paper will introduce the findings of an optimization analysis to refine and evaluate options to blend down HEU beyond the current rate of 30 metric tons per year. It will consider the history of current HEU blend down efforts, and present the case for expanding the current blend down efforts both in quantity and pace. It will touch on the methodology of the joint US-Russian analysis, and describe the prospects of achieving the nonproliferation and nuclear energy benefits of going faster and farther in blending HEU.