Jan 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rob Pavey The Augusta Chronicle, Ga.

Spent nuclear fuel shipped under heavy guard from Israel and Turkey is the latest batch of weapons-grade material now stored at Savannah River Site.

The shipment -- four casks with 131 spent fuel assemblies -- entered the U.S. through the Charleston Naval Weapons Station and was moved by truck to SRS last week.

The material contains highly enriched uranium -- a critical ingredient for nuclear weapons -- and marks the 50th such operation completed since 1996, when the U.S. government launched a program to recover material in foreign countries that could be vulnerable to exploitation by terrorists.

"The whole point of the program is that, if other countries have highly enriched uranium made by the U.S., we want to take it back to make sure it can't get diverted to some other use," said Jim Giusti, a U.S. Energy Department spokesman at the site.

 Much of the material was originally provided by the U.S. to other nations for research reactors and similar purposes.

The shipment from Turkey and Israel is being stored at the site's secure L-Area, along with similar spent fuel shipments from other countries, he said.

Also stored in L-Area are spent fuel from Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Germany, Romania, Portugal, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, the Netherlands, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Chile, Italy, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Thailand, Spain, Uruguay, Colombia and the Philippines.

According to a DOE fact sheet, the L-Area basin has concrete walls three feet thick and holds 3.5 million gallons of water with pool depths of 17 to 30 feet.

Although the spent fuel assemblies are now "cool" enough to no longer require water cooling, the water provides shielding to protect workers from radiation.

The shipments are part of the National Nuclear Security Administration's "Global Threat Reduction Initiative." With the successful completion of the most recent shipment, the agency has now returned approximately 2,728 pounds of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium fuel, the agency said on its Web site.

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