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You are here: NNSA > News and Information

March 2005

Making Mixed Oxide Lead Fuel Assemblies for the U.S. Plutonium Disposition Program

To reduce the threat of terrorists or rogue nations obtaining nuclear weapon materials, the Unite

and Russia will dispose of 68 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium – enough for thou

nuclear weapons. Both countries will dispose of their plutonium by converting it to mixed oxide

fuel for use in existing nuclear reactors. Once the MOX fuel is used in the reactors, it is

usable for nuclear weapons. In order to dispose of surplus U.S. plutonium, the Department of E

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will build two facilities at the Savannah Riv

Aiken, South Carolina – a Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility and a MOX Fuel Fabricatio

Before the MOX fuel can be used in significant quantities in a reactor, the utility must first obta

from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by verifying the performance of the fuel

done by making a small number of lead assemblies, or test quantities of fuel, and irradiating the

reactor to confirm that they function safely and predictably.

Because the United States will not have the capability to produce MOX fuel until the planned U

is operating, NNSA made arrangements with the French firm Cogema to fabricate the lead asse

using U.S. plutonium. By making the lead assemblies in France, NNSA will avoid a three to fou

program delay in obtaining an NRC license. The U.S. and Russian programs are proceeding rou

parallel.

The U.S. plutonium arrived in France in October 2004. The fuel rods were fabricated at Cogem

Cadarache facility and were made into assemblies at Cogema’s MELOX facility. The complete

assemblies will be shipped back to the United States in time to be inserted into one of Duke Pow

Catawba reactors during its scheduled spring 2005 maintenance and refueling outage.

Extensive arrangements have been made to ensure this material is adequately protected from the

diversion. MOX fuel shipments between fuel fabrication facilities and nuclear reactors in Europ

have been conducted safely for 15 years. Land transportation in France is handled by the

secure transport system developed for shipments of nuclear materials. The overseas shipments a

conducted using specially designed ships, which include a number of special security features. H

trained armed officers from the police force that protects nuclear facilities and materials in the

Kingdom provide on-board protection.

NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation transports the material in the United States. This offic

the special transport system designed to ensure the safe and secure transport of special nuclear m

nuclear weapons, weapons components and other sensitive nuclear material. Physical security

arrangements include: use of unmarked armored transport-trailer rigs, highly trained armed

escort vehicles, and a variety of communication equipment.

Media contact(s):

Bryan Wilkes, 202-586-7371.

Dept. of Energy | Dept. of Defense | Nuclear Weapons Council | Other Links

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