NRC’s Mixed 

Oxide Fuel Infoweb

The NRC’s redesigned Web site

can be found at www.nrc.gov.

Given the events of September 11,

the Mixed Oxide Fuel Infoweb is

undergoing an evaluation for

information which could be

helpful to adversaries and is

currently unavailable. As

information is deemed 

non-sensitive, it will be posted to

the site.

An NRC quarterly newsletter providing licensing information on a Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility

 Mixed Ox de Xchange

U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NUREG/BR-0284 March 2002 

 Vol. 2, No. 1 

CHANGES TO THE DOE

SURPLUS PLUTONIUM

DISPOSITION PROGRAM

On January 23, 2002, the Department of Energy

(DOE) issued a press release announcing its decision to

dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus weapons grade

plutonium by turning the material into mixed oxide

(MOX) fuel. DOE decided not to follow its planned

hybrid approach, under which some of the more highly

contaminated surplus weapons grade plutonium would

have been immobilized. The surplus plutonium

disposition program is managed by the DOE’s National

Nuclear Security Administration. This decision

followed “an exhaustive Administration review of nonproliferation programs, including alternative

technologies to dispose of surplus plutonium to meet

the non-proliferation goals agreed to by the United

States and Russia.”

The effect of this program change on the Duke

COGEMA Stone & Webster (DCS) Construction Authorization Request and Environmental Report for the

MOX facility was the subject of a meeting between DCS and NRC staff at NRC Headquarters on February

13, 2002.

The major program changes that DCS described during the February 13, 2002 meeting are: 

(1) about 6.4 metric tons of surplus weapons grade plutonium that would have

gone to the Plutonium Immobilization Plant will now be added to the 25.6

metric tons that was already allocated to the MOX facility; (2) another 2 metric

tons will be sent to the MOX facility from future allocations; and (3) new waste

processing alternatives will be used for wastes from both the MOX facility and

the DOE’s Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility. DCS efforts are

underway to change the MOX facility design and alter some processes in

order to accommodate the DOE program changes.

The design changes to the MOX facility include modifying the plutonium decanning area to

accommodate different can configurations, adding electrolyzers and ball mills and adding systems to the

Aqueous Polishing area that can remove chlorides and other salts from the dissolved plutonium. The size of

the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) would also be increased to accommodate the new equipment

required to process the additional plutonium.

MOX Project Manager

 Andrew Persinko

 (301) 415-6522

 AXP1@nrc.gov
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 2 - March 2002

DOE is planning to design, build, and operate a new waste processing facility in F-area, but this facility would

not be a part of the MOX facility site. The planned waste facility would handle high alpha activity waste and

stripped uranium streams from the MOX facility and other wastes from the Pit Disassembly and Conversion

Facility. The volumes of low-level liquid wastes and high alpha activity wastes would increase by about 10

percent. Instead of being transferred to the high level waste tanks, wastes would be solidified by the

Savannah River Site. DCS believes that this approach is responsive to NRC staff and public concerns about

adding more wastes to the Savannah River Site high level waste management system.

In light of the DOE program changes and DCS facility design modifications, the NRC has delayed issuing the

draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which was scheduled for late February 2002. Issuance of this

draft EIS for public comment is now scheduled for February 2003. Release of the first draft Safety

Evaluation Report for the MOX facility construction authorization is still scheduled for April 2002. Some

future dates of interest are:

July 2002.................DCS to submit Supplemental Environmental Report to NRC

October 2002...........DCS to submit Supplemental Construction Authorization Request to NRC

February 2003.........NRC to issue draft EIS for public comment

April 2003...............NRC to issue draft Safety Evaluation Report, Revision 1

Meeting Summaries

Summaries of recent meetings with NRC staff

regarding the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility are

listed below.

September 19-20, 2001 - NRC and DCS met in

Aiken, South Carolina, to discuss geological,

seismological and geotechnical engineering

information for the MFFF.

October 4, 2001 - NRC staff and staff from the

Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses

(CNWRA) met with representatives of DCS, Duke

Energy Corporation, Framatome ANP, DOE and

Oak Ridge National Laboratory to

discuss scope, cost, and schedule for confirmatory

NRC research activities associated with MOX fuel

use in the Catawba and McGuire Nuclear Stations

October 11, 2001 - NRC and DCS met to discuss

DCS responses to NRC’s June 21, 200, request

for additional information associated with the

construction authorization request for the MFFF.

October 16-18, 2001 - NRC conducted an inoffice review of DCS’ supporting documents and

information associated with the Construction

Authorization Request (CAR) for MOX in the areas

of heavy loads/material handling, safety analysis,

fire protection, instrumentation and control (I&C),

and quality assurance.

November 16, 2001 - NRC staff presented the

status of the Construction Authorization Request

review to the Reactor Fuels Subcommittee of the

Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.

(continued on page 3 - see Summaries)
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 3 - March 2002

 Upcoming

 Meetings

March, 27, 2002 - NRC staff meeting

with DCS to discuss nuclear criticality

safety and the status of review items.

April 10, 2002 - ACRS Subcommittee

Meeting

(Summaries - continued from page 3)

November 27-29, 2001 - NRC conducted an in-office review

of DCS’ supporting documents and information associated

with the CAR for MOX in the areas of safety analysis, I&C,

and chemical safety.

January 15, 2002 - NRC staff and staff from CNWRA

conducted an in-office review of seismic calculations. The

meeting was held at Stone & Webster offices in Englewood,

Colorado.

January 22-25, 2002 - NRC conducted an in-office review of

supporting documents and information for the CAR for MOX

in the areas of fire protection and structural design

.

February 4, 5 and 22 2002 - NRC reviewed outstanding

questions, associated with the CAR, with DCS via phone.

February 13, 2002 - NRC staff met with DCS to discuss what

impacts the DOE-announced changes to the Surplus Plutonium

Disposition Program have on the MFFF. The purchase of

Duke Engineering and Services by Framatome was also

discussed.

 May we recommend...

 Alphabet Soup

 (commonly used acronyms in this newsletter)

 ACRS Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards

 CAR Construction Authorization Request

 CNWRA Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analysis

 DCS Duke Cogema Stone & Webster

 DOE U.S. Department of Energy

 I&E Instrumentation and Control

 MFFF Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility

 MOX Mixed Oxide

 NRC U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

 
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 4 - March 2002

 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

 Commission

Mailing Address

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards

Attn: Mr. David D. Brown, CHP

Mail Stop T-8A33

Washington, D.C. 20555

Public Document Room

11555 Rockville Pike 

Room #O-1F21 

Rockville, Maryland 20852

Toll Free Telephone: 1- 800- 397- 4209

Mixed Oxide Xchange is published quarterly to highlight recent news and events

associated with the NRC’s licensing of a mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility. We welcome

your suggestions for improvement of this newsletter. If you have comments or

suggestions, you may contact us at moxfeedback@nrc.gov. To subscribe or unsubscribe,

please send an e-mail to subscribe@nrc.gov. All issues will be e-mailed unless you provide

your mailing address and indicate your preference to receive copies by U.S. Postal Service.