nuclear-news

The nuclear fuel bank – an attempt to secure plutonium and weapons grade uranium

“there is a large universe of nuclear material sites around the world and there are many unknowns and uncertainties…”

The nuclear clean-out,  FP, David Hoffman, 30 Dec 10, “………On Dec. 3, the IAEA’s 35-nation board approved plans for a new nuclear fuel repository. The idea is to encourage nations which want low-enriched fuel for civilian reactors to acquire it from the international fuel bank rather than build a domestic capability which can raise concerns about proliferation and making nuclear weapons.

The Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington and investor Warren Buffett together provided $50 million seed money for the new facility. Meanwhile, an earlier effort to create a low-enriched uranium reserve, in Russia, opened its doors in December, too.

Still, there are problems ahead. Over the last two years, the Government Accountability Office has been working on a classified study of the effort to secure vulnerable nuclear materials. An unclassified version (report GAO-11-227) was made public in recent weeks. The GAO says that while the National Security Council has developed a classified seven-page government-wide strategy for meeting Obama’s goal of securing all vulnerable materials in four years, the scope of all these nuclear materials creates some uncertainty about whether Obama’s ambitious goal can be met. ”

Several hundred” sites around the world have “significant” amounts of nuclear material, and “a large number of sites were determined to be most vulnerable.” The GAO quotes NSC officials as saying “there is a large universe of nuclear material sites around the world and there are many unknowns and uncertainties…”

The nuclear clean-out | David Hoffman

December 30, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety, Uranium