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

Posted at 12:12 pm February 13, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. 

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Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Premium Content, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: A Nuclear Family: Y-12 National Security Complex, considering operating license amendment, Federal Register, highly enriched uranium, low enriched uranium, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, NRC, nuclear weapons, Rick Perry, Savannah River Site, Tennessee Valley Authority, TPBAR, tritium, tritium production, tritium-producing burnable absorber rods, TVA, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Unit 1, Unit 2, Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant

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

Posted at 12:08 pm September 14, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: DOE, down-blend, down-blended, down-blending, Federal Register, Fiscal Year 2018 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, highly enriched uranium, low enriched uranium, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, nuclear weapons, Philip T. Calbos, public notice, Rick Perry, Savannah River Site, Tennessee Valley Authority, TPBAR, tritium, tritium production, tritium-producing burnable absorber rod, TVA, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, uranium enrichment, uranium transfers, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Y-12 National Security Complex

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

Posted at 12:15 pm August 29, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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.

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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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Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

Filed Under: Federal, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Premium Content, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Centrus Energy, DOE, down-blend, Federal Register, Fiscal Year 2018 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, HEU, highly enriched uranium, LEU, LEU fuel, low enriched uranium, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Phil Calbos, Rick Perry, Savannah River Site, Tennessee Valley Authority, TPBAR, tritium, tritium production, tritium-producing burnable absorber rods, TVA, U.S. Department of Energy, United States Government Accountability Office, uranium-235, USEC, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1, Y-12 National Security Complex

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