Russian Weapons-Grade Uranium Converted to Nuclear Fuel

Soviet SS-15 ICBM (Department of Defense/Wikimedia Commons)

USEC Inc., a supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants in Bethesda, Maryland, says through its participation in the Megatons to Megawatts program, it has recycled 400 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium from Russia into low enriched uranium used as fuel in commercial nuclear power plants. This conversion of 400 metric tons is the equivalent of removing some 16,000 warheads from Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

The Megatons to Megawatts program is a commercially financed government-industry partnership in which 500 metric tons of Russian weapons-grade uranium is downblended to low enriched uranium for delivery to USEC’s customers as commercial reactor fuel. USEC, acting for the U.S. government, has partnered with JSC Techsnabexport (TENEX), representing the the Russian government, to implement the program. USEC says the project is on track to complete the downblending of the equivalent of 20,000 nuclear warheads into commercial nuclear fuel by the end of 2013.

The recycling of highly enriched uranium (HEU) into low-enriched uranium (LEU) takes a multi-step process beginning in Russia. HEU metal is first removed from a warhead, machined into shavings, then oxidized and fluorinated. The resulting highly enriched uranium hexafluoride is mixed in a gaseous stream with slightly enriched uranium to form LEU suitable for commercial nuclear reactors. The LEU is checked that it meets commercial specifications, piped into shipping cylinders, and then sent to a collection point in St. Petersburg, Russia. USEC takes possession of the material there and ships it to USEC’s facility in the United States where it is inspected and then added to USEC’s inventory.