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Pilcaniyeu

The Pilcaniyeu conversion plant of the Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA), located near S.C. de Bariloche in Rio Negro Province, has a capacity of 62 t HM/a (UO2 to UF6 ).

CNEA's GD pilot plant at Pilcaniyeu has a capacity of 20,000 SWU/a. This plant is in the process of being optimized by the introduction of axial compressors and a new generation of membranes. These developments may allow the plant to operate competitively at a low level of production of SEU material.

After the development made in Argentina during the 1980´s, a new approach to uranium enrichment was started on 1997, based on previous results and know-how. The SIGMA concept was developed to achieve better economical figures on the enrichment technology, based on the well-known gas diffusion technology. A new facility was built to probe the concept in the CNEA´s research facilities at Pilcaniyeu Technological Complex, near Bariloche City.

An important milestone was achieved in 2000 related to the application of international safeguards at uranium enrichment facilities. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accepted the procedures and software developed to enable IAEA to conduct effective inspections at the gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment facilities in Pilcaniyeu, Argentina. This was an important milestone because the facility at Pilcaniyeu was the first enrichment plant using gaseous diffusion technology to be placed under IAEA safeguards.

During the 1990s Oak Ridge International Safeguards staff members worked with technical experts in Argentina to develop measurement methods to quantify the residual uranium within the shut-down process cascade and to develop inspection methods that the IAEA could implement to verify Argentina's official declarations. This work was conducted jointly under the terms of a Safeguards Cooperation Agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Argentine Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ARN). After a series of demonstration and validation tests, the measurement approach was accepted by the IAEA in late 1997.

Following acceptance of the measurement approach, however, the IAEA requested additional software, documentation, and training that would enable the agency to implement the approach effectively. This work was sponsored by the U.S. Program for Technical Assistance to IAEA Safeguards. The software developed (Inventory Verification Analysis Software for Pilcaniyeu or IVASP) and users' manuals were supplied to the IAEA in the fall of 2000.