Russia cancels plutonium agreement, leaving MOX future uncertain (Aiken Standard, Thomas Gardiner)

Link: http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20161003/AIK0101/161009890 For original article, please see link above.

Russia cancels plutonium agreement, leaving MOX future uncertain

By Thomas Gardiner tgardiner@aikenstandard.com October 3, 2016 A 16-year-old international nuclear nonproliferation agreement fell apart Monday, rendering the future of weapons-grade plutonium processing in the U.S. and at the Mixed Oxide Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site uncertain.

The agreement’s demise could take enough plutonium for 17,000 warheads out from under the oversight of international nuclear experts, according to agreement details on the U.S. State Department website.

Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to suspend the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement, citing unfriendly action on part of the American federal government.

That agreement was signed in 2000, giving birth to the MOX at South Carolina’s Savannah River Site. MOX was designed based on French facilities, and is being built to take weapons-grade plutonium and natural uranium to create fuel for commercial nuclear power facilities.

Both the U.S. and Russia agreed to dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium through processes that would prepare the plutonium for commercial electricity production purposes. Together, the overall 68 metric tons of material under the agreement is enough to build 17,000 nuclear warheads.

According to Russian media sources, the Russians continue to turn plutonium into fuel for nuclear energy reactors. {{{ See ‘remix fuel’ below this first article…. enc }} See link at top.

Putin issued an official decree Monday morning. According to state-media agency TASS, the decree said, “In connection with a fundamental change of the circumstances and the emergence of a threat to strategic stability as a result Page 1

of unfriendly actions by the United States towards Russia and the United States’ inability to ensure compliance with the assumed commitments to utilizing excessive weapons grade plutonium under international treaties and also proceeding from the need for urgent measures to protect the security of Russia.”

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a conservative proponent of MOX, reacted to Putin’s accusations of American compliance with the agreement.

“Recent statements from Russia that indicate their intention to withdraw from Plutonium Management Disposition Agreement is a direct result of this (Obama) Administration’s mishandling of the MOX project,” Wilson said. “Time and time again, President Obama has tried to close the facility for political, inaccurate reasons, without any concern for what the implications would be for the international community. From the dangerous Iranian nuclear agreement, to North Korea testing nuclear weapons with impunity – this is yet another example of President Obama’s failed nuclear policies, with a legacy of placing American families at risk of attack.”

Both South Carolina U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott called the Obama administration’s efforts to shut down the MOX program disastrous. The senators blamed the administration for allowing Putin to have unrestricted access to weaponsusable plutonium.

“That is a dangerous reality that my colleagues and I have been warning will occur for years now, and it lays at the White House doorstep,” Scott said in a provided statement.

Graham echoed those sentiments.

“President Obama and his Department of Energy’s deliberate assault on the MOX program and South Carolina need to stop immediately,” he said. “As it is, our next president will inherit a mess.”

The U.S. State Department’s website said that the two nations reaffirmed their dedication to the PMDA in 2013. According to the website, the agreement says, “Weapons-grade plutonium, unlike weapons-grade uranium, cannot be blended with other materials to make it unusable in weapons.

It can be fabricated into mixed oxide uranium-plutonium fuel and irradiated in civil nuclear power reactors to produce electricity. This irradiation results in spent fuel, a form that is not usable for weapons or other military purposes and a form that the Protocol prohibits being changed any time in the future unless subject to agreed international monitoring measures and only for civil purposes.”

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The State Department website said the agreement would also keep the International Atomic Energy Agency in charge of compliance with agreement provisions. Without an agreement, however, that level of international oversight is removed.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has attempted to shutter the MOX project in favor of an alternative program called dilute and dispose, or downblending.

Under that plan, plutonium would be placed in a canister and mixed with inert materials. Those canisters would then be sent for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. That facility, however, remains closed. A 2014 vehicle fire, along with other issues, shut operations for the facility. But a recent cave-in in part of the mine could potentially threaten its predicted re-opening in December of this year. It is not clear what the NNSA plans to do with MOX or the surplus weaponsgrade plutonium, but if international actions are any indicator, the nation’s Cold War adversary will be watching.

Thomas Gardiner covers nuclear, energy and science topics for the Aiken Standard.

Follow him on Twitter @TGardiner_AS. …………………………………………………………..

World Nuclear News Daily 15 September 2016 Russia may offer its new Remix fuel as part of its established 'integrated offer' to its customers, Alexander Lokshin, first deputy CEO for operations management at Russian nuclear power corporation Rosatom, said today. Remix is Rosatom's name for the regenerated mixture of uranium and plutonium oxides. Lokshin said the first three Remix fuel assemblies had been loaded into Russia's Beloyarsk 3 in July and these had "started work" last month. This fuel is expected to work in the core of the reactor for at least three years, he added. Upon discharge, the irradiated fuel will undergo examination and Rosatom will then decide on the future use of Remix, he said.

Russia is already offering its overseas new build customers, such as Turkey and Vietnam, the option of taking back used fuel of Russian origin for reprocessing. "Remix could be part of this integrated offer," Lokshin said.

Gene, They could "remix" spent fuel (~1 - 2 % fissile) with new medium enriched fuel (10-20% enriched) and get a fuel cycle that works in LWRs without chemical reprocessing and separating U and Pu. Ken Schultz

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