**NNSA-NN Foreign Research Reactor Spent Fuel Program Description
Package**

**Expectation:**

NNSA-NN arranges the return of foreign research reactor (FRR) spent
nuclear fuel (SNF) to Savannah River Site (SRS) from foreign countries.
The shipments will take place several times a year until 2019. This
Program Description Package only covers the portion of the work managed
by NNSA, namely the transport of the spent fuel shipment into the port
of Charleston, SC, and then by land to SRS. EM at Idaho National
Laboratory (INL) may forward some Training and Research Isotope General
Atomics (TRIGA) FRR SNF from SRS to INL. Some FRR contractor support to
the receiving agents at SRS is handled under a different Program
Description Package.

NNSA will need some level of support from the contractor to support the
domestic receipt, transfer and transportation activities between
Charleston and SRS. The Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River
Operations Office (SR) may need some level of support from the
contractor to support the transfer and transportation activities between
SRS and the DOE INL. The shipment from foreign countries to Charleston
is managed under a separate contract and is not a part of this scope.

**Background/Lifecycle Discussion:**

In the 1950\'s, as part of the Atoms for Peace Program, the United
States began providing assistance in the peaceful application of nuclear
technologies to countries that agreed to forego the development of
nuclear weapons. This assistance included the provision of highly
enriched uranium (HEU) for use in research reactors around the world.
After irradiation in the reactor, the used (spent) fuel was to be
transported to the United States, where it could be reprocessed to
extract the uranium still remaining in the spent fuel. In this way, the
United States maintained control of the HEU, which otherwise could be
used to make nuclear weapons.

To reduce the danger of nuclear weapons proliferation, the United States
began a program in 1978 aimed at minimizing and eventually eliminating
the use of highly enriched uranium in civilian reactor programs
worldwide. This effort (the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test
Reactors Program) is directed at replacing the HEU used in research
reactors with low enriched uranium (LEU), a material that is not
directly usable in nuclear weapons. Research reactors are of particular
interest because the major civilian use of HEU is as fuel in research
reactors. If research reactors worldwide were to convert to LEU fuels,
HEU essentially would be eliminated from use in civil commerce.

DOE prepared an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a new proposed
FRR SNF acceptance policy. The goal of the proposed long‑term policy is
to recover enriched uranium exported from the United States, while
giving FRR operators sufficient time to develop their own long‑term
solutions for storage and disposal of spent fuel. The EIS was issued on
February 16, 1996, and a Record of Decision was issued on May 13, 1996.

In accordance with the EIS, the aluminum-based FRR SNF and target
material will be transported to and managed at SRS and the TRIGA FRR SNF
will be transported to and managed at INL. A quantity of the TRIGA FRR
SNF will be transported cross-country from the Naval Weapons Station
Charleston (NWSC) in South Carolina through SRS to INL on a periodic
basis of no more than one to two shipments per year for the remainder of
the program. Subsequently, this program was extended to accept these
materials until May 12, 2019.

**Contract Period Objectives**

**Work Scope for 12-1-06 thru 09-30-11**

-   Support receipt preparations and unloading of the FRR casks in a
    maximum of four shipments with multiple transport packages per year
    at the spent fuel storage facilities at SRS at a rate of at least
    four FRR SNF casks each month.

-   Provide support , associated with onsite fuel inspection at FRR
    operators' locations to ensure FRR SNF satisfies receiver acceptance
    requirements in accordance with the Contractor's receipt
    requirements and as requested by the Office of Global Threat
    Reduction (GTR).

-   Provide support, as requested by GTR, associated with FRR SNF
    Acceptance Program implementation and shipment arrival in the U.S.
    at the NWSC and transport to SRS.

-   For a TRIGA shipment departing SRS, support SR point-of-contact for
    all State of South Carolina and Georgia representatives associated
    with transport activities to Idaho.

-   Provide support for TRIGA shipments to INL for activities during
    transportation planning within the States of South Carolina and
    Georgia.

-   Provide operations support at SRS for intermodal surveys and
    transfer of containers to different mode of transportation, if
    necessary.

**Work Scope for 10-01-11 thru 09-30-16**

Same as previous period.

**Core Work Scope**

Provide support as necessary and as requested

**Optimized Work Scope**

Not applicable

**Appendix A System State at Contract Start 12-01-06**

Several shipments are taking place annually from various countries on a
routine basis.

**Appendix B Assumptions**

-   No interruption in spent fuel returns

**Appendix C Risks**

-   None identified

**Appendix D Relevant NNSA-NN Spent Fuel Documents**

**[Orders/SRIDs]{.underline}**

**[SRIPS/Manuals]{.underline}**

**[Regulatory Documents]{.underline}**

**[Authorization Basis (e.g. SAR/SER)]{.underline}**

**[Program Plans]{.underline}**