Year
2009
Abstract
Since its inception, the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) has accelerated nuclear nonproliferation efforts and made significant progress to reduce the risk posed by civilian nuclear and radiological materials. The DOE has committed to convert six U.S. high performance research reactors (HPRRs) in accordance with the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s commitment made coinciding with the formation of GTRI. The conversion of these U.S. HPRRs requires the development and production of a new ultra-high density LEU fuel. Such a fuel, based on a monolithic UMo alloy, is under development at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This fuel provides a maximum in research reactor fuel uranium loading, thus making it possible for these HPRRs to convert to LEU while maintaining reliability and performance. The scope of the Fuel Fabrication Capability (FFC) project is to identify a commercial source for the newly developed fuel and ensure that fuel is available in time to meet the reactor conversion schedule. The FFC Project team has assessed current capabilities within the nuclear community worldwide. The NNSA has agreed that a commercial acquisition pathway would present the best value to the U.S. Government in order to meet the scheduled milestones. A Request for Proposal for supplying the LEU fuel is scheduled to be issued and is predicated on moving the research and development phase into a ready-for-manufacture fuel specification.