Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
4/17/2015
A coalition of 22 representatives from advocacy groups sent a letter to the Department of Energy this week calling for a nuclear nonproliferation impact assessment on a new processing method at the Savannah River Site proposed for German spent fuel. The 900 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium comes in the form of graphite spheres from the pebble bed AVR gas-cooled research reactor at Germany’s Juelich Research Center, and DOE is currently preparing a draft environmental assessment on the proposal expected out this spring. Because the environmental assessment “is not a decisional document on the overall matter of the reprocessing and disposal of the German spent fuel, a nuclear nonproliferation impact assessment must be prepared to help in the decision-making process,” states the letter, led by Tom Clements of Savannah River Site Watch and signed by representatives from 21 other groups based in locations around the country.
The technique developed at Savannah River National Laboratory for addressing the fuel, which has proved difficult to process in the past, would take place at the site’s H-Canyon facility. It involves removing the graphite from the fuel kernels via a graphite digestion technology, DOE has said. The letter notes that as H-Canyon, “which has recently faced operational issues and is slated to be closed in 2020, is neither safeguarded by the International Atomic Energy Agency nor regulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the preparation of the nonproliferation assessment is made even more urgent.”
This isn’t the first time the proposal has raised opposition—last summer the move was questioned by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R), as well as local media and stakeholder groups. In this week’s letter, the groups call for public comment into the nonproliferation aspects of the proposal. “Given the proliferation implications associated with any reprocessing method, defined as removal of uranium and/or plutonium from spent fuel, it is imperative that DOE immediately prepare a publicly available nuclear nonproliferation impact assessment on the reprocessing of the German graphite spent fuel and that the public be allowed to have input into the preparation of that document,” the letter states. DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration this week did not respond to requests for comment.
