FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 1996NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
Carmen MacDougall, 202/586-4940
Keith Holloway, 202/586-5806
Jim Giusti, 803/724-2889CLINTON ADMINISTRATION TAKES MAJOR STEP TO HALT THE SPREAD OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL
Bomb Grade Fuel Returned to U.S.
The Clinton administration's long standing commitment to halt the spread of nuclear bomb-grade materials was advanced when the Department of Energy yesterday accepted the first shipment of spent research-reactor fuel containing weapon-usable enriched uranium, originally produced in the United States. Under a new policy issued by Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary in May, the department will take back foreign research-reactor spent fuel from 41 countries.
"This action further demonstrates President Clinton's leadership in reducing the worldwide nuclear danger by accepting this fuel after an eight-year lapse in the policy," said O'Leary. "The consolidation of this dangerous material in the United States reduces the risk of it falling into terrorist hands."
This shipment from Colombia and Chile as well as Germany, Switzerland and Sweden contained 280 spent fuel elements. While this fuel contains enough uranium to produce approximately two crude nuclear weapons, it adds less than .002 percent to the inventory of spent fuel currently managed by the department.
"The spent-fuel acceptance policy will make a major contribution to our nuclear weapons nonproliferation objective of minimizing civil commerce in highly enriched uranium worldwide," Secretary of State Warren Christopher said in a recent letter to Secretary O'Leary.
Forty years ago, under the Atoms for Peace program, the U.S. began supplying highly enriched uranium to foreign allies for use as nuclear fuel in their research reactors to produce medical isotopes and conduct scientific experiments in exchange for their promise to forego development of nuclear weapons.
Highly enriched uranium (HEU) is radioactive material that could be extracted from the spent nuclear fuel and used to produce nuclear weapons. Since 1978, the U.S. has successfully assisted reactor operators to convert reactors from HEU to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel under the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program. Secretary O'Leary's decision to accept and manage the spent nuclear fuel supports the disposition needs of the research operators and encourages their cooperation in the fuel conversion program.
Research reactor fuel accepted under this policy will be stored at the Savannah River Site, South Carolina and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. An accelerated technology development program is underway within the department for safe, cost effective storage and disposal of both the foreign research reactor spent nuclear fuel and domestic fuel.
-DOE-
R-96-139
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