The
Commercial Nuclear Fuel Chain[i]
Mary Byrd Davis
I. EXTRACTION
The
Uranium Industry Annual 2000 reports that uranium was obtained in 2000
from one underground mine and from four in situ leaching operations.[ii]
(In in-situ leaching, the uranium-bearing ore remains in its geological
deposit. A liquid that will
leach the ore is injected through wells into the deposit; and then
pumped out through other wells.)
The
underground mine went on standby in 2001; one of the four in situ
operations closed during 2001. Thus, the only active mines as of October
2001 are the three in situ operations.
I.A.
Underground mine:
Schwartzwalder
Mine—shut
down
Type: multi-level, hard rock underground mine
Location: Colorado
Owner: Cotter Corporation (General Atomics 100%)
Period
of operation: 1965?-2001
Production: total to around 2001, 17 million pounds U3O8 (6500 metric
tons of uranium)
Reserves: 16 million pounds U3O8 (about 6150 metric tons of uranium)
Cotter obtained the land for the Schwartzwalder mine
in 1965.[iii]
General Atomics acquired the Cotter Corporation from Commonwealth Edison
Company in early 2000.[iv]
Subsequently General Atomics decided “to place the mine on
temporary standby and begin reclamation of the property.”[v]
I.B.
In situ leaching operations:
Crow
Butte
Type: in situ leaching operation
Location: northwestern Nebraska
Owner: Uranerz US 67.691% (Cameco 100%) ; Geomex Minerals Inc., USA
32.309% (Cameco 100%)
Period
of operation:
1991-
Nominal
capacity:
1,000,000 pounds U308 per year but could expand to 2,000,000 pounds per
year[vi];
380 metric tons uranium per year[vii]
Actual
production:
800,000 pounds U3O8 (308 metric tons uranium) in both 2000 and 2001[viii]
Reserves: 5.2 million pounds U308 as of 2001[ix]
Highland
Type: in situ leach operation
Location:
central Wyoming
Owner:
Power Resources, Inc. 74.25% (Cameco 100%); Geomex Minerals Inc., USA,
known as Converse County Mining Venture 25.75% (Cameco 100%)
Period
of operation:
1972-1984 conventional mine; 1988-
leaching
Nominal
capacity: 1,000,000 pounds of U3O8 per year; could be raised to
2,000,000 pounds per year [x] ;
580 metric tons uranium per year[xi]
Actual
production: 900,000 pounds U308 in both 1999 and 2000
Reserves: 5.7 million pounds U3O8 as of 2001[xii]
Cameco plans to suspend development activities and
reduce annual production gradually from 700,000 pounds U3O8 (269 metric
tons uranium) in 2001 to 300,000 pounds U3O8 (115 metric tons uranium)
in 2003, with the option of increasing production if uranium prices
rise.[xiii]
In July 2000, Power Resources requested a ten-year license
renewal.[xiv]
Smith Ranch
Type: in situ leach operation
Location: east-central Wyoming
Owner: Rio Algom Mining Corp. (Billiton Plc 100%)
Period
of operation: 1997-
Nominal
capacity: 2,000,000 pounds of U308 per year; 1150 metric tons uranium per year[xv]
Actual
production:
?
Reserves: 12,500 t of uranium at 0.085
Billiton
acquired Rio Algom Limited in
November 2000.[xvi]
Christensen
Ranch—shut
down
Type: in situ leach operation
Location:
east-central Wyoming
Owner: 71% by Cogéma Mining Inc., known as COMIN (Cogéma Resources
Inc.100%)[xvii]
Period
of operation: 1989-2000
Nominal
production:
250 metric tons of uranium per year[xviii]
The mine ceased operation in June 2000.
Cogéma is currently restoring the groundwater.
Restoration of the groundwater is expected to be completed in
2005. Final decommissioning and surface reclamation will then take
place.[xix]
Hydro
Resources—planned
Type:
in situ leach operations
Location:
Crownpoint and Church Rock, in the Eastern Navajo Agency, New
Mexico
Owner:
Hydro Resources, Inc. (Uranium Resources Inc. 100%)
Period
of operation: ?
Hydro Resources has received a license from the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) to begin construction of in situ leaching
operations on three sites. It
does not plan to start until the price of uranium rises to $15 a pound.[xx]
Residents of the area, and others are working to prevent the
mining.
II. CONCENTRATION
In
2000, one conventional mill and four unconventional plants (in situ
leaching operations) were in operation.
The conventional mill closed in 2001; the three in situ
operations active at the end of 2000 are still active as of October
2001. Five conventional
mills were on standby in 2000 and remain on standby in 2001.
One of the five processes waste materials containing uranium.
II.A. Conventional mill
Canon City Mill
Type: Conventional uranium mill
Location: Colorado
Owner: Cotter Corp.
(General Atomics 100%)
Period
of operation:
1958-2001[xxi]
Nominal
capacity: 400 short tons of
ore per day[xxii]
Actual
production:
General Atomics bought Cotter Corp. from Commonwealth Edison Co.
in early 2000.[xxiii]
Ambrosia
Lake—on
standby
Type: Conventional uranium mill
Location: New Mexico, about 25 miles north of Grants
Owner: Quivira Mining Corporation (Rio Algom 100% [Billiton, PC
100%])
Period
of operation: 1958-1992[xxiv]
Nominal
capacity: 7000 short tons of ore per day[xxv];
3300 metric tons uranium per year[xxvi]
Recovered uranium by processing mine water solution in 2000 and
in mid 2001.[xxvii]
Dawn/Ford—on
standby
Type: Conventional uranium mill
Location: Washington State
Owner: Dawn Mining, a subsidiary of Newmont[xxviii]
Period
of operation:
Nominal
capacity: 450 short tons of ore per day[xxix]
Recovered uranium by processing the waste stream at a
mine water treatment plant during 2000.
In the past it has processed the waste stream at the end of the
year.[xxx]
Shootaring—on
standby
Location: Utah
Owner: Plateau Resources Ltd. (US Energy Corp. 100%)[xxxi]
Period
of operation: 1982-1984[xxxii]
Nominal
capacity: 750 short tons of ore per day;[xxxiii]
380 metric tons uranium per year[xxxiv]
Sweetwater
(Green Mountain)
—on standby
Location: Wyoming
Owner: Kennecott Uranium Company[xxxv]
Period
of operation: 1981-1983[xxxvi]
Nominal
capacity: 3000 short tons of ore per day [xxxvii];
350 metric tons uranium per year[xxxviii]
White
Mesa—on
standby
Type:
conventional uranium mill
Location:
near Blanding, Utah
Owner:
International Uranium (USA) Corp. (International Uranium Holdings
Corp. 100%)[xxxix]
Period
of operation: 1980-1997[xl]
Nominal
capacity: 2000 short tons
of ore per day[xli]
The mill now processes “alternate feed,” ie waste
materials containing uranium, in particular waste from the federal
Formerly Utilized Remedial Action Program (Fusrap). It sells any uranium
that it recovers and disposes of the remaining material in the tailings
site at the mill.
II.B. Unconventional
plants
The
four in situ leaching operations (Crow Butte, Highland, Smith Ranch, and
Christensen Ranch) are described above.
In the in situ operations the liquid that is pumped out of the
ground is treated on site to concentrate the uranium.
During
2000 two in situ leaching operations that were no longer active
recovered some uranium from the processing of mine water and waste
streams (as did the conventional mills Ambrosia Lake and Dawn Ford,
described above).
Holiday-El
Mesquite—shut
down
Type: in situ leaching
Location: Texas
Owner: 71% by COMIN (Cogéma Resources Inc. 100%)[xlii]
Period
of operation: 1979-1997
Nominal
capacity: 250 metric tons uranium per year.[xliii]
Recovered uranium by processing water from in situ mine
restoration during 2000.
Irigaray
Project—shut
down
Type: in situ leaching
Location: east-central Wyoming
Owner: 71% by COMIN (Cogéma Resources Inc. 100%)[xliv]
Period
of operation: 1978[xlv]-1994[xlvi]
Nominal
capacity: 130 metric tons uranium per year[xlvii]
Recovered uranium by processing water from in situ mine
restoration during 2000.
III. CONVERSION
Honeywell Specialty
Chemicals Plant
Purpose: conversion of uranium oxide to uranium hexafluoride
Location: Metropolis, Illinois
Owner: Honeywell International Corp.
Process: dry fluoride volatility conversion process
Period
of operation: 1959-
Capacity: 12,700[xlviii]
or 14,000 metric tons per year[xlix]
Honeywell International Corp. was formed in December
1999 by the merger of Honeywell Inc., based in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
with Allied Signal Inc., based in Morris Township, New Jersey.
Allied Signal brought to the new company the Allied-Signal
uranium conversion plant, now known as the Honeywell Specialty Chemicals
Plant.[l]
ConverDyn, a general partnership between affiliates
of Honeywell and General Atomics, is the exclusive agent for conversion
sales.[li]
The firm was created in 1992 by Allied Signal and General Atomics
to market conversion to uranium hexafluoride (UF6).
This
was the year in which General Atomics placed its Sequoyah Fuels
Corporation plant, which also converted uranium oxide to UF6, on stand-by.[lii]
That plant, located in Gore, Oklahoma, is now undergoing
decommissioning.[liii]
Because of an oversupply of UF6 on the world market, the
Honeywell plant had to cut production of UF6 by 25% in 1999.
Therefore, the plant diversified and now offers chemical products
in addition to UF6.[liv]
IV. ENRICHMENT
Paducah
Gaseous Diffusion Plant
Purpose:
enrichment of uranium
Location: McCracken County in western Kentucky (about
ten miles west of Paducah)
Owner:
US Department of Energy
Operator: United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC)
Process: enrichment of uranium hexafluoride by gaseous diffusion
Period
of operation: 1954- [lv]
Nominal
capacity: 11.3 million SWU[lvi]
per year as of 1999[lvii];
now rated by USEC at 8 million SWU
Actual
production: 5 million SWU anticipated by USEC in its fiscal year 2002[lviii]
USEC (first as a government-owned corporation and
then as a private entity) has leased the uranium enrichment facilities
at Paducah and also at Portsmouth (See below) from the US Department of
Energy since 1993. Until
2001 Paducah was authorized by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) to enrich uranium hexafluoride to only 2.75% uranium 235 by
weight.[lix]
The Paducah plant shipped the UF6 that it enriched to the K-25
plant at Oak Ridge[lx]
until that plant shut down, or to Portsmouth to be enriched to the
appropriate level for civilian or military use.
Recently USEC upgraded the Paducah plant to enable it to stand
alone. March 19, 2001, the
NRC authorized Paducah to enrich uranium to 5.5% uranium 235.[lxi]
However, according to an informed source, Paducah had not reached
that level as of November 5, 2001.
Most nuclear power plants use uranium enriched to between 3.5%
and 5% uranium 235. Paducah
will continue to ship enriched UF6 to Portsmouth for an indefinite
period of time, but only for final packaging and shipping.
Portsmouth
Gaseous Diffusion Plant—cold
standby
Purpose:
enrichment of uranium
Location:
Pike County in southcentral Ohio (Piketon is the nearest town;
Portsmouth is twenty-five miles to the south)
Owner:
US Department of Energy
Operator: United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC)
Process: enrichment of uranium hexafluoride by gaseous diffusion
Period
of operation: 1956- [lxii]
Nominal
capacity: 8.6 million SWU per year[lxiii]
The Portsmouth plant enriched UF6 to as high as 97%
uranium 235, until the government stopped producing highly enriched
uranium (HEU) in 1991. Afterwards
it enriched up to 10% uranium 235.[lxiv]
However, USEC blended down 13 tons of HEU UF6, containing about 2
million SWU, at the Portsmouth plant.
Blending was completed in 1998.[lxv]
USEC stopped enriching uranium at the Portsmouth plant in May 2001.[lxvi]
Only the plant’s transfer and shipping stations remain in
operation.
Former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced in
October 2000 that the plant would be placed on cold standby for five
years for possible restart in the event of a significant disruption in
the nation’s supply of enriched uranium.
He also pledged that DOE would finance a pilot centrifuge plant
at Portsmouth.[lxvii]
The Bush administration has funded the first two years of cold
standby,[lxviii]
but as of early November 2001 funding for the remaining years and for
the centrifuge pilot was in question.
V.
FUEL FABRICATION (grouped according to nuclear materials used)
V.A. Low-enriched uranium
Global
Nuclear Fuel—Americas
Purpose: production of fuel for boiling water reactors
Location: Wilmington, North Carolina
Owner: Global Nuclear Fuel—Americas (Global Nuclear Fuel, LLC 100%
[General
Electric Co. 51%; Hitachi Ltd. 24.5%; Toshiba Corporation 24.5%])[lxix]
Period
of operation: 1982-
Nominal
capacity: 1200 metric tons of heavy metal per year[lxx]
General Electric Company (GE), Hitachi, Ltd. and
Toshiba Corp. established Global Nuclear Fuel, an international
nuclear-fuel joint venture, January 1, 2000.
The joint venture has two subsidiaries:
Global Nuclear Fuel—Americas and Japan Nuclear Fuel (JNF), the
latter established by the three partners in 1967. The three partners
transferred their nuclear fuel marketing, design, and development
operations to the two subsidiaries. Both Global Nuclear Fuel—Americas and Japan Nuclear Fuel
develop, design, and manufacture fuel for boiling water reactors.[lxxi]
Framatome
ANP—Lynchburg
Purpose: manufacture of fuel assemblies for commercial reactors
Location:
Lynchburg, Virginia
Owner:
Framatome ANP (Framatome 66%; Siemens 34%)
Period
of operation: 1982[lxxii]-
Nominal
capacity: sources differ: 400 metric tons heavy metal per year [lxxiii];
200 metric tons of fuel assemblies[lxxiv]
Actual
production:
in 1998, 650 fuel assemblies equaling 300 tons of fuel[lxxv]
At Lynchburg, Framatome ANP fabricates fuel
assemblies (but not UO2 powder and pellets) for commercial nuclear power
plants, both boiling water and pressurized water.[lxxvi]
The plant receives uranium oxide pellets, which it loads into fuel rods.
It then bundles the fuel rods into assemblies.
At Lynchburg but across town from the fuel plant, Framatome ANP
inspects, repairs, and services nuclear power plants.
In the past, the two types of operations (fuel
production and the servicing of power plants) were performed by two
subsidiaries of the Framatome Technologies Group (FTG): Framatome Cogéma
Fuels and Framatome Technologies Inc.[lxxvii]
The parent company of FTG was Framatome S.A., headquartered in
Paris.
Framatome Cogema Fuels was formerly B&W Fuel Co., the fuel
operation of Babcock and Wilcox. [lxxviii]
Framatome Technologies was formerly B&W Nuclear Technologies.[lxxix]
The French Framatome Group and the German company Siemens merged
to form Framatome ANP January 31, 2001. Framatome ANP became a
subsidiary of the new French nuclear holding company Areva in September
2001.[lxxx]
Framatome ANP is one of the major subcontractors that
will help provide Mox fuel fabrication and reactor irradiation services
for DOE’s plutonium disposition program.[lxxxi]
Framatome
ANP
- Richland
Purpose: manufacture of fuel for commercial reactors
Location:
Richland, Washington
Owner: Framatome ANP (Framatome 66%; Siemens 34%)
Period
of operation: 1970- [lxxxii]
Process: dry conversion process since 1997 [lxxxiii]
Nominal
capacity: 700 metric tons heavy metal (ie uranium as a metal) per year [lxxxiv]
(see below)
The facility fabricates fuel for boiling water and pressurized
water reactors.[lxxxv]
In the process, it produces UO2 powder (by converting enriched UF6 to
UO2), UO2 pellets, and finished assemblies. As of 1999, it supplied UO2 powder to customers in Japan
and pellets to what is now Framatome ANP’s Lynchburg plant.
According to Ralf Gueldner, a Siemens executive, the plant has a
capacity of 1,000 to 1,200 metric tons per year for UO2 powder
conversion, and totals about 700 metric tons per year in pelletizing and
rod and bundle assembling capacity [lxxxvi]
The plant was formerly operated by the German Siemens Power
Corporation, a subsidiary of Siemens Nuclear Power GmbH, which acquired
it from the former Exxon Nuclear.[lxxxvii]
ABB-Combustion-Engineering
Plant
Purpose: manufacture of fuel rods for civilian reactors and, in the
early years, military projects
Location: Hematite, Missouri (in Jefferson County, south of St. Louis)
Owner: Westinghouse Electric Co. (British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. 100%)
Period
of operation: 1956[lxxxviii]-2001
Nominal
capacity: 450 metric tons of heavy metal per year[lxxxix]
June 29, 2001 when the Hematite plant ceased production,[xc]
it was manufacturing fuel for boiling water and pressurized water
reactors. The main raw
material was enriched UF6, which the plant transformed into UO2 for
incorporation into the pellets that it placed in fuel rods.
The first owner of the facility was Mallinckrodt
Chemical Works, which converted uranium hexafluoride unto uranium oxide
and uranium metal for the Atomic Energy Commission and manufactured fuel
for commercial power plants.[xci]
By the 1980s, the facility was owned by Combustion
Engineering. In 1989, the
Swiss-based ABB bought the plant, which then became known as the ABB-Combustion
Engineering plant.[xcii]
For years it had fabricated only pressurized water reactor fuel, but
after the purchase by ABB, it began to make, in addition, boiling water
reactor fuel, based on technology from ABB Atom.[xciii]
In 2000
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) completed acquisition of the
commercial nuclear power business of ABB and integrated it into
Westinghouse Electric Co. (BNFL had purchased what is now Westinghouse
Electric from the CBS Corporation in 1999.)[xciv]
Westinghouse Electric Co. announced May 5, 2000 that it would
close the Hematite facility and consolidate most of its US fuel
operations at its Columbia, South Carolina plant.[xcv]
Westinghouse is to submit a plan for cleaning up the
Hematite plant to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by December of 2001.
It will then study records and examine the soil and water.
Actual cleanup and decommissioning are expected to begin around
2004.[xcvi]
Westinghouse Electric Co.--Columbia
Purpose: manufacture of fuel for commercial reactors
Location: Columbia, South Carolina
Owner: Westinghouse Electric Co. (British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. 100%)
Period
of operation: 1986-
Nominal
capacity: 1150 tons of heavy metal/year [xcvii]
The plant currently manufactures fuel for pressurized
water reactors and for Russian VVER.[xcviii]
In 1999
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) purchased what is now Westinghouse
Electric from the CBS Corporation.
(The corporation that was originally named Westinghouse bought
CBS in 1995 and became the CBS Corporation in 1997.)[xcix]
In 2000 BNFL purchased the commercial nuclear power business of
the Swiss-based ABB. It
integrated this business into Westinghouse Electric Co.
As a result, Westinghouse Electric Co. became the owner of the
fuel fabrication plant in Hematite, Missouri, that had belonged to ABB-Combustion
Engineering.
Westinghouse has shut down the Hematite plant and
consolidated most of its fuel operations at Columbia; but it has not
carried to Columbia the manufacture of boiling water reactor fuel
carried out at Hematite.[c]
V.B. Plutonium
[MOX
Fuel Fabrication Facility]
-planned
Purpose:
manufacture of mixed oxide fuel (MOX: uranium and plutonium
oxides)
Location:
DOE’s Savanna River Site, F Canyon[ci]
Owner: US Department of Energy
Operator: DCS (Duke Engineering Services, Cogéma, Stone and Webster,
and others)
In March 1999, DOE awarded a contract to a consortium known as
DCS for design, construction, operation, and deactivation of a plant to
make mixed oxide fuel (MOX—uranium oxide and plutonium oxide).
The contract also assigns to DCS a responsibility for irradiation
of the fuel in commercial reactors.
The purpose is to render plutonium removed from old nuclear
weapons unsuitable for reuse in new weapons. DCS is composed of Duke
Engineering Services, Cogéma, and Stone and Webster, supported by a
host of subcontractors including Framatome Cogéma Fuels (now Framatome
ANP), Nuclear Fuel Services, and the Belgian Belgonucléaire. The
consortium currently plans to irradiate the MOX fuel in Duke’s Catawba
(York, South Carolina) and McGuire (Huntersville, North Carolina)
reactors.[cii]
Other utilities have expressed an interest in weapons MOX fuel
use and DOE has said it would look into using additional reactors at the
program progresses.
Construction of the plant is dependent on licensing
and funding. In the fall of
2001 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the process of considering
whether to license the plant and is compiling an Environmental Impact
Statement to provide a basis for its decision.[ciii]
Also, an environmental impact statement is being prepared.
Congress has provided funding for the 2002 Fiscal Year.
However, the Bush administration is reviewing the entire
plutonium disposition program. The
plans are hotly contested by numerous safe energy, environmental, and
peace organizations that advocate other methods of rendering the
plutonium unusable.
Nuclear
Fuel Services
(See Highly-enriched uranium below)
V.C.
Highly-enriched uranium (HEU)
BWX
Technologies (BWXT)
Purpose: manufacture of fuel for naval and research reactors
Location: a 500-acre site on a peninsula in the James River, at
Lynchburg, Virginia (Schnabel)
Owner: BWX Technologies Inc. (McDermott International, Inc. 100%)
Period
of operation: 1956-
BWXT is licensed to handle highly enriched uranium.[civ]
The Naval Nuclear Fuel
Division of BWXT manufactures fuel for the US Navy and plate-type fuel
for reactors dedicated to research, testing, and teaching.[cv]
Among the other work carried out by BWX Technologies
at Lynchburg is the downblending of highly enriched uranium.
In recent years the company has undertaken two major downblending
projects: 1) downblending
50 metric tons of uranium from DOE’s Portsmouth and Oak Ridge plants
for USEC. BWXT received the
material in December 1999 and expects to complete the work by mid-2005;
(2) downblending 5.8 t of uranium 235 that the United States
removed from Kazakhstan in
1994. The uranium was
downblended under a 1995 Project Sapphire contract with DOE.
The plant operates a uranium recovery program, which
includes the recovery of uranium from components such as scrap metal and
from excess material from fuel fabrication.[cvi]
The plant originally belonged to the Atomic Energy
Division; later to the Naval Nuclear Fuel Division. It was acquired by McDermott in 1978. BWXT was formed in 1997.[cvii]
Nuclear
Fuel Services Inc.
(NFS)
Purpose: production of fuel and materials for fuel, for civilian and
military purposes
Location: Erwin, Tennessee
Owner: NFS Services Ltd., a private, limited partnership[cviii]
Period
of operation:
1957-
NFS is licensed to process or store up to 7,000 kg of
HEU. Between 1978 and 1999,
NFS was the sole facility “to convert uranium hexafluoride into
the chemical and physical form used in naval reactor fuel elements.”[cix]
Presumably this situation has not changed.
The company, which has had several owners including
Texaco, made nuclear fuel from highly-enriched uranium for
nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers for the US Navy from
late 1967 to 1992. It
resumed production for the Navy in 1996 under a contract that extends
through 2002.[cx]
In the period during which NFS was not under contract
with the Navy, it developed and patented a process for downblending HEU,
which it transferred to DOE as part of an exchange arrangement with the
agency. The company has
also developed capabilities in dismantling and decontaminating nuclear
facilities.
NFS has carried out various downblending projects
including downblending, in 1998, HEU scrap material from DOE for four
lead assemblies for testing in TVA’s
Sequoyah-2 reactor.[cxi]
The test was successful. Now
NFS is helping to provide TVA with full reloads of fuel from downblended
HEU.
Under a contract with TVA, NFS will be responsible
for converting uranium-aluminum alloy and highly-enriched uranium metal
into low-enriched uranyl nitrate solution.
For this purpose NFS will set up a new processing operation
inside an existing building at Erwin.
NFS, together with Framatome ANP Richland, will also be
responsible for converting low-enriched uranyl nitrate solution, from
the NFS facility and from Savanna River, to low-enriched uranium oxide.
To perform this step, NFS and Framatome ANP will construct at Erwin
another new facility, which is scheduled to go into operation in late
2003.[cxii]
NFS fabricated MOX fuel from 1965-1972.[cxiii]
As a result, NFS is a member of the team that will help provide
MOX fuel fabrication and reactor irradiation services for DOE’s
plutonium disposition program (See above, under Mox Fuel Fabrication
Facility).[cxiv]
Savanna River Site
Purpose: originally, the production of nuclear materials for weapons;
today, management of these materials and radioactive wastes
Location: twelve miles south of Aiken, South Carolina
Owner: US Department of Energy
Period
of operation: 1952-[cxv]
As of November 2000, a downblending facility was under
construction at the Savanna River site.[cxvi]
The facility will downblend at least 16 tons of slightly
contaminated or off-specification HEU to be used in low-enriched uranium
fuel for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah, Brown’s Ferry,
and, possibly, Watts Barr plants.[cxvii]
The F area at the plant is the likely site of a MOX production
facility (See MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility above).
VI.
NUCLEAR REACTORS
(See Appendix 2)
VII.
WASTE DISPOSAL
VII.A.
“Low-level” waste
Envirocare
Purpose: disposal of radioactive
waste
Location: Utah’s West Desert, approximately 80 miles west of Salt
Lake City
Owner: Envirocare of Utah, Inc., owned by Khosrow Semnani[cxviii]
Period
of operation:
1988-
Nominal
capacity: 15 million cubic yards.[cxix]
Current
storage:
?[cxx]
Envirocare’s first license was for the disposal of Naturally
Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM).
Projects involving large volumes of contaminated soils are still
its primary focus, but it can now also dispose of certain other types of
materials, including various Class A low-level radioactive wastes,
byproduct material, and mixed waste (waste that is radioactive and
chemically toxic). Envirocare
treats mixed waste in special facilities before storing it. A
stabilization facility, using reduction/oxidation, is authorized to
treat 150 tons of material per day.
Waste is disposed of in “above-ground, engineered disposal
cells.”[cxxi]
Barnwell
Waste Management Facility
Purpose: disposal of radioactive waste
Location: 235 acres in Barnwell County, South Carolina
Owner:
State of South Carolina
Operator: Chem-Nuclear Systems L.L.C. (GTS Duratek, Inc.100%)[cxxii]
Period
of operation: 1971- (but temporarily closed in 1994)[cxxiii]
Nominal
capacity: “disposal volume” of 31 million cubic feet
Current
storage: as of mid- 2001, 28 million cubic feet of waste stored.[cxxiv]
Chem-Nuclear receives A, B, and C low-level waste for disposal.< |