ACTIVISTS OPPOSE POSSIBLE UK HEU SHIPMENT TO SAVANNAH RIVER

While some activists are opposing a potential shipment of highly enriched uranium from the Dounreay research reactor site  in Scotland to the Savannah River Site, officials say they have no concrete plans yet for shipping the material. Some of the material from the Republic of Georgia being stored at Dounreay has already been sent to the United States, and “paperwork is currently being processed to enable the future return of a quantity of overseas-owned material that is scheduled for treatment in the U.S.,” according to a statement from the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. However, “there are no current plans to ship this material,” NDA spokesman Bill Hamilton said in a written response.

Documents filed with the NRC led some activists late last week to come out against the option. “The shipment is being considered under the guise of nuclear non-proliferation but this is another case of problematic nuclear materials being dumped on SRS in exchange for payment to go to operation of the H-Canyon reprocessing plant,” Tom Clements of Friends of the Earth said in a statement. DOE announced earlier this year plans to ship highly enriched uranium to Savannah River from Canada, which would pay for processing in H-Canyon. With regards to the Dounreay shipment, Clements cited Nuclear Regulatory Commission filings that show that nuclear transport company NAC International last year applied for permission to ship the material, and in June requested an extension of shipment authorization until the end of 2014.

The Dounreay material would be shipped under the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Foreign Research Reactor program, according to NRC documents, but the NNSA declined to provide details Friday. “For now, this is an issue for the UK. We are absolutely committed to HEU minimization and nuclear security efforts across the globe, but it would be premature to speak in detail about any plans with the UK at this point,” NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha said in a written respons.