Two branches of the Department of Energy have, together with international partners, finished removing all leftover highly enriched uranium from Venezuela’s old RV-1 research reactor.
DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Office of Environmental Management (EM) and the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina participated in the U.S. effort, according to a Tuesday press release from DOE.
NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation led the operation through its Office of Nuclear Materials Removal and Minimization, whose mission includes reducing risk of nuclear terrorism by keeping nuclear material from falling into the wrong hands.
The Savannah River Site provided technical support, specialized facilities and other assistance needed to bring the mission to completion, according to the release.
The RV-1 reactor, or Reactor Venezolano 1, was built in the 1960s under the Atoms for Peace program and supported scientific research before its shutdown in 1991. Most of its used fuel was removed in 1999. But the remaining 20 United Kingdom-origin assemblies, along with U.S.-origin fuel and parts, continued to pose a proliferation risk, DOE said.
A team from Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the site’s Fluor-led prime contractor, led a site assessment in Venezuela in March, evaluating equipment, logistics and regulatory requirements.
“We needed to see what equipment we had, what we would need, and whether everything would fit,” said Kiran Karanth, SRNS Fuel Receipts Programs program manager.
A British sea vessel moved the spent fuel from Venezuela to Charleston, S.C. A team from the SRS Radiological Assistance Program did surveys on the cargo before it was transferred overland to the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. That’s a trip of roughly 130 miles, according to an Internet search.
The cask from the retired reactor has since been taken to Savannah River Site’s L Area, where it was securely stored. Savannah River is managed by NNSA but EM has a large footprint at the site as well.
Ultimately, the spent fuel will end up at SRS’s H-Canyon where highly enriched uranium will be extracted and converted to high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for advanced reactors, DOE said.