Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the 2002 International RERTR Meeting
U.S. Uranium Supply to the Research AND TEST
Reactor Community
Elaine M. Parker
International
Marketing Specialist
BWXT Y-12, L.L.C., Oak
Ridge, Tennessee
ABSTRACT
From the 1950s through the early 1990s, the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) was the primary supplier of low enriched uranium
(LEU) and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to research and test reactors
worldwide. The formerly called Y‑12 Plant in Oak
Ridge, Tennessee, was put into
operational stand down in 1994 due to inadequate safety documentation. This
paper will discuss the re-start of the Y-12 Plant and its current capabilities.
Additionally, the paper will address recent
changes within the DOE, with the creation of the National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA). It will show how the change to NNSA and an
organizational re-alignment has improved efficiencies. NNSA is committed to
operate its sales program so that it is complementary to, and in support of,
the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) and Foreign
Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel (FRR SNF) Return Programs. The
NNSA is committed to provide an assurance of competitively-priced, high-quality
uranium supply to the research and test reactor community under long-term
contracts. This paper will discuss some
of NNSA’s recent successes in long-term contracting
and meeting deliveries.