Oak Ridge Today

Y-12 supporting work to make most widely used medical isotope

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Pictured above is a rendering of the proposed Coquí Radio Pharmaceuticals Corporation medical isotope production facility at the Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy Coquí)

Note: This story was updated at 5:30 p.m.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is supporting a program to make an isotope used in more than 40,000 medical procedures across the nation each day. The goal is to produce the isotope, molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), in the United States without using highly enriched uranium.

Some of that work could occur in Oak Ridge. A company called Coquí Radio Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced in April that it plans to build a $500 million medical isotope production facility at the Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. Coquí’s facility would make medical isotopes, primarily Mo-99, and the company could start production in 2025.

In a video posted online, Y-12 said some of its researchers have extensive knowledge of Mo-99 and are sharing that information with Coquí and other companies hoping to produce the isotope.

Y-12 has been involved with Mo-99 since 2009, said Cole Jackson of Y-12 Global Security and Strategic Partnerships.

[Read more…]

Highly enriched uranium from UK brought to Y-12 for secure storage

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The Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

Note: This story was updated at 9:15 a.m.

Almost 700 kilograms of highly enriched uranium has been moved from the United Kingdom to the United States, and the material is being securely stored at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge for now, federal officials said.

The National Nuclear Security Administration said this month that the highly enriched uranium, or HEU, will be down-blended later into low enriched uranium for use as nuclear reactor fuel.

“The material was returned to Y-12 for secure storage awaiting future disposition,” the NNSA said in a statement provided Friday by Steven Wyatt of the NNSA Production Office in Oak Ridge.

Wyatt said Y-12 supported the removal effort, which was announced by the NNSA on May 3, through technical oversight and guidance of the processing and packaging of material.

[Read more…]

(For members) NRC finds no significant impact from producing tritium at Watts Bar 2

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Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on Monday that there would be no significant impact from producing tritium for nuclear weapons in a second unit at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant in Rhea County.

The project involves the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The tritium could be produced in Unit 2 at Watts Bar, which is near Spring City about 45 miles southwest of Oak Ridge.

Tritium, which boosts the yields of nuclear weapons, is already being produced in Watts Bar Unit 1. The Tennessee Valley Authority has been producing tritium there since 2003.

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Twenty tons of uranium could be used to produce tritium for nuclear weapons

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Image courtesy NNSA

Image courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration. SRS is the Savannah River Site.

 

About 20 metric tons of highly enriched uranium could be “down-blended” to low-enriched uranium and transferred to the Tennessee Valley Authority for use as a fuel to produce tritium for nuclear weapons, according to a public notice published in the Federal Register this week.

The project involves the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City in Rhea County, among other sites.

The National Nuclear Security Administration and TVA announced in August that they intend to enter into an agreement to “down-blend” highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in order to help produce tritium, a key “boosting” component in nuclear weapons.

The highly enriched uranium used for the “down-blending” will be processed, packaged, and shipped from Y-12, according to the NNSA. Y-12 is an NNSA site, and it is the main storage facility for certain categories of highly enriched uranium. [Read more…]

NNSA, TVA agree to ‘down-blend’ uranium to produce tritium for weapons

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The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, that they intend to enter into an agreement to “down-blend” highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in order to help produce tritium, a key “boosting” component in nuclear weapons. The highly enriched uranium used for the “down-blending” is processed, packaged, and shipped from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, that they intend to enter into an agreement to “down-blend” highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in order to help produce tritium, a key “boosting” component in nuclear weapons. The highly enriched uranium used for the “down-blending” is processed, packaged, and shipped from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced last week that they intend to enter into an agreement to “down-blend” highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in order to help produce tritium, a key “boosting” component in nuclear weapons.

The highly enriched uranium used for the “down-blending” is processed, packaged, and shipped from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, according to the NNSA. Y-12 is the main storage facility for certain categories of highly enriched uranium, which can be used in nuclear weapons and in naval reactors.

Low-enriched uranium, or LEU fuel, is used in a commercial power reactor run by TVA at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1 near Spring City in Rhea County, southwest of Oak Ridge. Tritium is produced there by irradiating lithium-aluminate pellets with neutrons in rods known as tritium-producing burnable absorber rods, or TPBARs.

The irradiated rods are then shipped to the Savannah River Site, an NNSA production facility near Aiken, South Carolina. The Savannah River Site extracts the tritium from the irradiated rods, purifies it, and adds it to the existing inventory, according to the NNSA’s Fiscal Year 2018 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that has two neutrons and one proton. It has been described as an essential component in every nuclear weapon in the U.S. stockpile. It occurs naturally in small quantities but must be manufactured to obtain useful quantities. It enables weapons to produce a larger yield while reducing the overall size and weight of the warhead in a process known as “boosting,” the U.S. Department of Energy said in an environmental impact statement about 20 years ago.

But unlike other nuclear materials used in nuclear weapons, tritium decays at a rate of 5.5 percent per year—its half-life is about 12 years—and it must be replenished periodically.

The NNSA, a separately organized agency within DOE, said the agreement with TVA that was announced last week is for management of the down-blending campaign and the resulting material. It’s separate from an existing interagency agreement for irradiation services that started in 2000 and is in effect until November 30, 2035.

“Without this down-blending campaign, we would need to accelerate the development and execution of a strategy to provide LEU fuel for tritium production by nearly a decade,” said Phil Calbos, NNSA’s acting deputy administrator for defense programs.

The new agreement follows a determination by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on August 21 that allows the NNSA to continue transfers of enriched uranium from DOE’s inventories in support of national security, the NNSA said in a press release.

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UPF lawsuit moved from DC to Knoxville

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A rendering of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Image from May 2017 courtesy of NNSA)

A rendering of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Image from May 2017 courtesy of NNSA)

 

The federal lawsuit that asks for an environmental review of the new multi-building design for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been transferred from Washington, D.C., to Knoxville.

The transfer of the civil complaint had been requested in September by the defendants, U.S. Energy Secretary James Richard “Rick” Perry and Frank G. Klotz, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. The NNSA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy that manages nuclear weapons programs and facilities, including Y-12, among other activities.

United States District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, who was assigned the case in December, granted the motion to transfer the lawsuit from the District of Columbia to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, which includes the Knoxville division, on March 23.

The 44-page federal lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on July 20, argues that a new environmental impact statement should be prepared for the new design for the UPF, the largest federal construction project in Tennessee since World War II. The plaintiffs allege that the NNSA’s decision to use several new buildings for the UPF, rather than just one, and continue to use some old buildings at Y-12 for some nuclear weapons work is risky because the old buildings could collapse during a major earthquake, possibly leading to a nuclear accident that could release radiological materials.

Federal officials denied that allegation and others in a 29-page response filed September 29. They’ve called some allegations vague, ambiguous, or speculative, and they have said that safety and technical analyses are under way at Y-12. Some buildings may require seismic upgrades, depending upon evaluation results, and an Extended Life Program is meant to ensure that two buildings—Building 9215 and Building 9204-2E—will safely support future operations, federal officials said. [Read more…]

For first time in 30 years, Savannah River dissolving spent nuclear fuel from ORNL reactor

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The reactor pool is pictured above in the reactor bay inside the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday, March 15, 2018. Spent nuclear fuel is stored inside the pool. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The reactor pool is pictured above in the reactor bay inside the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday, March 15, 2018. Spent nuclear fuel is stored inside the pool. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

For the first time in 30 years, spent nuclear fuel from the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been dissolved at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

The work is important because it is expected to allow the reactor, known as HFIR, to continue its mission, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

HFIR, which uses highly enriched uranium, is one of the world’s most powerful nuclear research reactor facilities. It’s the highest flux reactor-based source of neutrons for research in the United States. Flux refers to the rate of flow of fluids, particles, or energy. In HFIR’s case, the flux is measured in neutrons per square centimeter per second. HFIR is used for neutron scattering and isotope production, among other missions.

ORNL will reach its maximum capacity for storing HFIR fuel in fiscal year 2020, the DOE Office of Environmental Management, or EM, said in an “EM Update” electronic newsletter on Tuesday. [Read more…]

Y-12 reactor core could be used for power on Moon, Mars

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NASA fission power system concept (Image credit: NASA Glenn Research Center)

NASA fission power system concept (Image credit: NASA Glenn Research Center)

 

A reactor core that includes highly enriched uranium alloy components produced at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge could power future space exploration, including on the Moon and Mars, federal officials said.

The reactor core fabricated at Y-12 has been delivered to the Nevada National Security Site, where it is being used in a experiment called Kilopower. That’s a new power source that could provide safe, efficient energy for future robotic and human space exploration missions, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. The power source could help provide lighting, water, and oxygen on those missions.

NASA said the pioneering space power system, which would use nuclear fission, could provide up to 10 kilowatts of continuous electrical power for at least 10 years. That’s enough power to run two average households.

Four Kilopower units would provide enough power to establish an outpost, NASA said. The system could enable long-term stays on planetary surfaces.

Testing, which started in November, is being performed through this spring at the National Critical Experiments Research Center in the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada National Security Site. [Read more…]

NNSA developing research-reactor fuel that can’t be used in nuclear weapons

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Qualification of the new high-density fuel will allow for the conversion of U.S. high performance research reactors, such as the Advanced Test Reactor located at Idaho National Laboratory, shown here. (Photo by National Nuclear Security Administration)

Qualification of the new high-density fuel will allow for the conversion of U.S. high performance research reactors, such as the Advanced Test Reactor located at Idaho National Laboratory, shown here. (Photo by National Nuclear Security Administration)

 

The National Nuclear Security Administration is leading an effort to develop and qualify a new fuel that will allow high-performance research reactors in the United States that currently use highly enriched uranium to be converted to reactors that use low-enriched uranium fuel.

The research reactors that could be converted include the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The goal is to develop a fuel that cannot be used in a nuclear weapon. The research reactors perform unique science and are a critical part of the U.S. nuclear complex, but all together, they use 200 kilograms of highly enriched uranium each year. That’s enough material for at least eight weapons, according to the NNSA.

On Wednesday, the NNSA said it has presented the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission with a preliminary report on uranium-molybdenum (U-Mo) monolithic fuel. The report contains data about the performance of the new fuel in a reactor and how it holds up under a variety of conditions. [Read more…]

Y-12 helps NNSA, others eliminate weapons-grade uranium from Indonesia

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Anne Harrington

Anne Harrington

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge has helped the National Nuclear Security Administration and other agencies eliminate weapons-grade nuclear material from Indonesia, a press release said.

The material was eliminated by “down-blending” highly enriched uranium, or HEU, to low enriched uranium, or LEU. Unlike HEU, LEU cannot be used to make an improvised nuclear device, a press release said.

The work to eliminate the HEU from Indonesia was done through a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, or DOE/NNSA; Indonesian Nuclear Industry LLC, or PT INUKI; the National Nuclear Energy Agency, or BATAN; and the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency, or BAPETEN, of the Republic of Indonesia.

Indonesia is the 30th country plus Taiwan to be declared free of HEU. That’s defined as possessing less than one kilogram of HEU in a country. Indonesia joins fellow Southeast Asian countries Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines in working with DOE/NNSA to eliminate all of its weapon-usable nuclear material, an NNSA press release said.

“With this most recent milestone, the entire region of Southeast Asia is now free of HEU,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Historic day: Last wall to be demolished at last of big five uranium-enriching buildings at ETTP (K-25)

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K-27 Demolition Aug 17 2016 Freeny

The last wall of the last of the big five buildings once used to enrich uranium at the former K-25 site will be demolished Tuesday. A section of the K-27 Building, the last to be demolished, is pictured above on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)

 

The last wall of the last of the big five buildings once used to enrich uranium at the former K-25 site will be demolished Tuesday.

Demolition on the last building, the K-27 Building, started in February.

The other four buildings—K-25, K-29, K-31, and K-33—were demolished between 2006 and 2015. All five of the huge buildings once used a process called gaseous diffusion to produce highly enriched uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants, starting during World War II and continuing through the Cold War. The largest was K-25, a mile-long U-shaped building.

When K-27 demolition is complete, it will be the first time that all of a site’s uranium-enriching gaseous diffusion buildings will have been cleaned up anywhere in the world, officials said.

“Demolition eliminates environmental hazards and prepares the land for productive reuse through deindustrialization,” a media advisory said. [Read more…]

Letter from Prison: Y-12 protesters’ statement on second anniversary of break-in

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Transform Now Plowshares

Note: This is a copy of a letter sent Monday from the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center by Sr. Megan Rice, on behalf of the Transform Now Plowshares.

We send warm greetings and many thanks to all who actively engage in the transformation of weapons of mass destruction to sustainable life-giving alternatives. Gregory Boertje-Obed (U.S. Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas) Michael Walli (Federal Correctional Institution McKean, Bradford, Pennsylvania), and I are sending you some of our observations and concerns on the second anniversary of our Transform Now Plowshares action.

On July 28, 2012, after thorough study of nuclear issues, and because of our deepening commitment to nonviolence, we engaged in direct action by cutting through four fences at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the U.S. continues to overhaul and upgrade thermonuclear warheads.

On that day, two years ago, when we reached the building where all U.S. highly enriched (bomb-grade) uranium is stored, we prayed and also wrote messages on the wall, such as “The Fruit of Justice is Peace.” (Realistically, the higher and stronger fences built as a result of our nonviolent incursion can never keep humans safe from inherently dangerous materials and weapons.) We acted humbly as “creative extremists for love,” to cite one of our most important and revered leaders, Martin Luther King Jr.

There are a number of reasons for what we did. We three were acutely mindful of the widespread loss to humanity that nuclear systems have already caused, and we realize that all life on Earth could be exterminated through intentional, accidental, or technical error. [Read more…]