Program summary. [Uranium Enrichment Program, 1981]

Technical Report · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:6680775

The operating, construction, and development activities of the Department of Energy in the areas of uranium enrichment are described. The DOE supplies the enrichment service through toll enrichment contracts with foreign and domestic utilities by enriching uranium supplied by the utility to the desired U-235 level. This role will continue well into the next century. In addition it provides enriched uranium for US Government needs and for R and D purposes. At the present time, almost all the world's capacity to produce enriched uranium uses the gaseous diffusion process. The United States built the first gaseous diffusion plant during World War II. Later this plant was expanded and two additional plants were built. There is presently a $1.5 billion improvement and uprating program near completion which will improve the plant efficiency and increase the total capacity of the three plants by 60 percent to 27.3 million SWU per year. The Administration's energy message in 1977 provided for a further expansion of this capacity by using gas centrifuge technology. The new gas centrifuge plant is being built near the existing GDP near Portsmouth, Ohio. The normal capacity of an 8 building process plant will be 13.2 million SWU per year. The first 2.2 million SWU of capacity is scheduled to be available in 1989. The remaining capacity will be added as needed to meet demand and the overall goal of the program. The goal of the Uranium Enrichment Program is to meet domestic, foreign, and US Government requirements for uranium enrichment services in an economical, reliable, safe and environmentally acceptable manner. To ensure accomplishment of this goal, the overall program is broken down into three areas of implementation; Enrichment Operations; Capacity Upgrading Operations; and Business Operations.

• Research Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Washington, DC. Office of Uranium Enrichment and Assessment
• OSTI ID: 6680775
• Report Number(s): DOE/NE-0040; ON: DE83001610
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050501* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Uranium Enrichment-- Gaseous Diffusion-- (-1989)
050502 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Uranium Enrichment-- Centrifugation-- (-1989)
051000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CENTRIFUGE ENRICHMENT PLANTS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS
HEAVY NUCLEI
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPE SEPARATION
ISOTOPE SEPARATION PLANTS
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
ORGDP
PADUCAH PLANT
PORTSMOUTH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT
PRODUCTION
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
RADIOISOTOPES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
URANIUM 235
URANIUM ISOTOPES
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES