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IAEA Support of Research Reactor HEU to LEU Fuel Conversion Projects
Institute of Nuclear Materials Management48th Annual Meeting
July 8 - 12, 2007Tucson, AZ USA
Ed BradleyPablo Adelfang
Ira Goldman
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Overview
• Background
• Technical Cooperation
• Regular Program & Budget
• Other areas of support
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Background
• 20 year, active partner in international efforts to address non-proliferation challenges associated with HEU
• Tailors each project to address the relevant constraints which often depend on several factors including the design of the reactor and fuel, technical needs of the member state, local nuclear infrastructure, and available resources
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Background
• Methods of Implementation include• Technical Cooperation (TC) projects
• Regular Program & Budget (P&B) activities
• Other areas of broader support
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Technical Cooperation
Chile – Conversion of RECH-1, fully converted in May 2006
• Development of domestic LEU fuel fabrication capability
• IAEA support via TC commenced in 2001
• Objective: qualify the irradiation performance of fuel fabricated in Chile; to ensure quality control and assurance of silicide fuel, and to improve fuel fabrication technology
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Technical Cooperation
Libya Arab Jamahiriya – Conversion efforts of 2 cores in Tajoura are ongoing as part of direct gov’t to gov’t agreements between Libya and the USA.
• At the request of the Libyan gov’t IAEA provided assistance to• assess the quality of the proposed LEU
replacement fuel and• implement poolside fuel inspection capabilities
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Technical Cooperation
Portugal – Support for the conversion of the Portuguese RPI research reactor.• IAEA issued an international call for tenders for
LEU fuel,• convened an independent international expert
consultancy meeting to evaluate the offers and• selected the preferred tender.
Fuel supplied in early 2007 per a tripartite contract.
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Technical Cooperation
Poland – Support of conversion of the Maria reactor.
• Use of silicide fuel, qualified to high burnups
• Unique, reverse flow, mechanical design requires irradiation of 2 LTAs and a somewhat customized, 2 phase contract
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Technical Cooperation
Romania –14 MW TRIGA-reactor in Pitesti, Romania, fully converted in May 2006.
• Managed through a tripartite contract.
• Challenged as the fuel fabrication operations were transitioning from USA to France.
• Well managed with no adverse impact on the project.
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Regular Program and Budget
Conversion of Chinese designed Miniature Neutron Source Reactors (MNSR)
• Cores contain about 1kg of 90% enriched HEU• Implementation through a Coordinated Research
Project (CRP)• CRP initiated in June 2006• Institutions in China (3), Ghana, Iran, Nigeria,
Pakistan, and Syria are participating as contract holders in this CRP.
• The U.S. (Argonne National Laboratory) is an agreement holder.
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Regular Program and Budget
Accelerator Driven Sub-critical systems (ADS) LEU conversion / utilization
• new collaborative activity with the purpose of studying the feasibility of using LEU in ADS systems.
• A kick off workshop for this new undertaking was held in Vienna from 6 to 9 November 2006
• Since this meeting research contracts have been signed with researchers from Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, China, India, Korea, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine.
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Other Areas of Support
Support for efforts to shift Mo-99 production to the utilization of LEU.
• 2005 – initiated CRP on Developing techniques for small-scale indigenous production of Mo-99 using LEU or neutron activation
• Contract holders from Chile, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Romania and Libya
• Agreement holders include Argentina, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea and the USA
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Other Areas of Support
Related meetings and workshops
• Ongoing support for RERTR meetings
• June 2006 - Technical Workshop on HEU Minimization and the International Symposium on Minimization of HEU in the Civilian Nuclear Sector (Gov’t of Norway & IAEA)
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Summary
• IAEA continues to provide strong and active support to help Member States achieve the goals of the GTRI/RERTR program
• Support is tailored to the specific needs of the various stakeholders, facilities and organizations
• Implementation can be achieved through TC, regular P&B or other, broader support
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Conclusion
The IAEA encourages Member States to contact pertinent departments at the Agency to seek assistance and make suggestions for new activities in relation with RR and target conversion issues.
