**Dounreay** Option papers for the long-term management of radioactive material produced and stored at Dounreay were published by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in 2011 and 2012. The material, owned by the NDA, included ‘Exotic Fuels and Nuclear Material’ described as comprising unirradiated plutonium and high enriched uranium fuels and irradiated (spent) high enriched uranium fuel - the latter from the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) and other experimental work at Dounreay. In February this year the NDA announced that, for these exotic fuels, ‘the option for this material which best meets our objectives, is for it to be transported to Sellafield for long term management’. Yet behind the scenes plans indicate that some of Dounreay’s exotic material – specifically the irradiated (spent) fuel assemblies containing highly enriched uranium (HEU) - may well be shipped to the United States. Such plans, conspicuous by their absence in any NDA document, originated in November 2011 with an application by NAC International (acting on behalf of the US Department of Energy) to America’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for authorisation ‘to package and ship from Dounreay to the Savannah River site in Aiken, South Carolina five special fuel assemblies in a one-time shipment’. Authorisation was granted by NRC in January 2012 for the shipment to be made - up to the end of 2013 – but uncertainties about transport schedules have resulted in a further application being submitted to NRC by NAC International in June 2013 for the authorisation to be extended to 31st December 2014. CORE 28th Aug 2013 corecumbria.co.uk/newsapp/pressreleases/pressmain.asp?StrNewsID=321
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 08:55:50 +0000
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