Environmental assessment for the manufacture and shipment of nuclear reactor fuel from the United States to Canada
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has declared 41.9 tons (38 metric tons) of weapons-usable plutonium surplus to the United States` defense needs. A DOE Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement analyzed strategies for plutonium storage and dispositioning. In one alternative, plutonium as a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel would be irradiated (burned) in a reengineered heavy-water-moderated reactor, such as the Canadian CANDU design. In an Environmental Assessment (EA), DOE proposes to fabricate and transport to Canada a limited amount of MOX fuel as part of the Parallex (parallel experiment) Project. MOX fuel from the US and Russia would be used by Canada to conduct performance tests at Chalk River Laboratories. MOX fuel would be fabricated at Los Alamos National Laboratory and transported in approved container(s) to a Canadian port(s) of entry on one to three approved routes. The EA analyzes the environmental and human health effects from MOX fuel fabrication and transportation. Under the Proposed Action, MOX fuel fabrication would not result in adverse effects to the involved workers or public. Analysis showed that the shipment(s) of MOX fuel would not adversely affect the public, truck crew, and environment along the transportation routes.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 314103
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-99-49; CONF-990109-; ON: DE99001746; TRN: 99:003272
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1999 MAES international symposium and career fair and trade expo, San Antonio, TX (United States), 20-23 Jan 1999; Other Information: PBD: [1999]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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