Highly Enriched Uranium Blend Down Program at the Savannah River Site “Will it be Allowed to Continue?

In April 2001 the Department of Energy (DOE) and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) signed an Interagency Agreement to transfer approximately 33 metric tons (MT) of offspecification (off-spec) highly enriched uranium (HEU) from DOE to TVA for conversion to commercial reactor fuel. Since that time additional surplus off-spec HEU material has been added to the program, making the current total approximately 46 MT HEU. The disposition path for approximately half (23 MT) of this 46 MT of surplus HEU material, is to down blend through the H-canyon facility at the SRS. The HEU is purified through the Hcanyon processes, and then blended with natural uranium (NU) to form low enriched uranium (LEU) solution with a 4.95% 235 U isotopic content. The solution is then shipped to a TVA vendor for conversion to LEU powder and subsequent use as reactor fuel. The first blending to LEU took place in March 2003 with the initial shipment to the TVA vendor in July 2003. The SRS processing and shipments have continued on a regular schedule with no major issues for the past 8 years. It is now being questioned as to whether or not this successful non-proliferation program should be allowed to continue as the viable disposition path for an additional approximate 13.5 MT of surplus HEU material