Uranium from Germany could come to SRS

May 1 - Derrek Asberry Aiken Standard, S.C.

 

Savannah River Site officials recently made it clear that accepting highly enriched uranium from Germany has not been confirmed, but is only a possibility at this point.

In an SRS update notice, spokesman Jim Giusti wrote that the Department of Energy has collaborated with multiple organizations in Germany by signing a Statement of Intent.

The statement will go to support DOE's evaluation of Germany's uranium -- which is in the form of pebble bed fuel -- for possible acceptance, processing and disposition at SRS, according to Giusti.

"Pebbles" are in the form of billiard-ball-size fuel elements, each covered in its own protective layer of graphite, according to a story in The New York Times.

Guisti wrote, "Under the Statement of Intent, the feasibility of accepting and dispositioning from Germany graphite pebble fuel elements containing U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium would be investigated."

Even though a decision has not been made to accept the fuel, Giusti said the act would support the United States' efforts to reduce and eliminate highly enriched uranium from civil commerce.

"By removing U.S.-origin (highly-enriched uranium) from Germany and returning it to the United States for safe disposition, DOE could render it unusable for use in a nuclear weapon or an improvised nuclear material dispersal device," he added.

Activist groups already are speaking out about the possibility of SRS receiving the shipments from Germany.

Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Watch, said it would be considered dumping rather than an act of nuclear nonproliferation.

"The proposal to import highly radioactive spent fuel from Germany to SRS is simply nuclear dumping dressed up as nuclear non-proliferation," said Clements. "Germany's challenging dilemma with what to do with its nuclear waste must not become a waste management problem for the Savannah River Site."

While Site officials remain unsure of whether it will receive German shipments, it is expected to receive shipments of highly enriched uranium from Canada in the near future.

According to a Free Times article in November, the Canadian shipment is part of an agreement between President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Like the German shipment, the Canadian shipment is also of U.S. origin.

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Derrek Asberry is a beat reporter with the Aiken Standard. He joined the paper in June. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.

www.aikenstandard.com

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