The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration and the Euratom Supply Agency on Friday jointly announced to swap nuclear material between the United States and Euratom member states. The deal, announced at the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, is based on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2014 between the two agencies for highly enriched uranium (HEU) exchanges.
A United Kingdom government statement said that as part of the agreement, the U.K. will ship to the U.S. approximately 700 kilograms of excess highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the Dounreay site in Scotland in exchange for a different kind of HEU that the U.S. will provide to the European Atomic Energy Community in France for conversion into medical isotopes. The isotopes can then be used to diagnose and treat certain types of cancer in the U.K. and other European states, the statement said.
The British government called the swap “the largest ever single move of HEU,” saying it would cut the United Kingdom’s total holdings of nuclear material.
“This is a landmark deal to turn nuclear material we no longer need into a cancer-fighting treatment that could potentially save many lives,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said in the release. “It’s a win-win, innovative solution that shows what working together with our international partners can achieve.”
Tom Clements, director of watchdog group Savannah River Site (SRS) Watch, said in a prepared statement the HEU is likely to be shipped to SRS “under the guise of nuclear non-proliferation,” calling it “nuclear dumping.” The Department of Energy site near Aiken, S.C., has regularly received shipments of foreign nuclear material for ultimate processing and disposal.
“Before this proposal can go forward, a full environmental impact statement must be prepared on the impacts of bringing this material to SRS for storage and processing,” Clements said.
The U.S. statement also noted that a joint U.K.-U.S. exercise on civil nuclear infrastructure security is planned for next year. The exercise will test government responses to cyberattacks, the statement said.
The Nuclear Security Summit is the last one to take place under the current administration and has brought together over 50 heads of state to discuss the prevention of nuclear terrorism.
