Research Reactor Preparations for the Air Shipment of Highly Enriched Uranium from Romania

Conference · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2010

OSTI ID:986964

Allen, K J; Bolshinsky, I; Biro, L L; Budu, M E; Zamfir, N V; Dragusin, M; Paunoiu, C; Ciocanescu, M

In June 2009 two air shipments transported both unirradiated (fresh) and irradiated (spent) Russian-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) nuclear fuel from two research reactors in Romania to the Russian Federation for conversion to low enriched uranium. The Institute for Nuclear Research at Pitesti (SCN Pitesti) shipped 30.1 kg of HEU fresh fuel pellets to Dimitrovgrad, Russia and the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH) shipped 23.7 kilograms of HEU spent fuel assemblies from the VVR S research reactor at Magurele, Romania, to Chelyabinsk, Russia. Both HEU shipments were coordinated by the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Program (RRRFR) as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), were managed in Romania by the National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control (CNCAN), and were conducted in cooperation with the Russian Federation State Corporation Rosatom and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Both shipments were transported by truck to and from respective commercial airports in Romania and the Russian Federation and stored at secure nuclear facilities in Russia until the material is converted into low enriched uranium. These shipments resulted in Romania becoming the 3rd country under the RRRFR program and the 14th country under the GTRI program to remove all HEU. This paper describes the research reactor preparations and license approvals that were necessary to safely and securely complete these air shipments of nuclear fuel.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NA
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 986964
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-09-17366; TRN: US1006566
• Resource Relation: Conference: Research Reactor Fuel Management 2010 (RRFM 2010),Marrakech, Morocco,03/21/2010,03/25/2010
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MGMT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
AIRPORTS
ENRICHED URANIUM
FUEL MANAGEMENT
FUEL PELLETS
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
IAEA
NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR FUELS
PHYSICS
RESEARCH REACTORS
SPENT FUELS
Air shipment SNF
Air transport SNF
CNCAN
Fresh nuclear fuel
Global Threat Reduction Initiative
GTRI
HEU
Highly enriched uranium
Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nu
IFIN-HH
Institute for Nuclear Research
National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control
RRRFR
Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Program
SCN Pitesti
Spe