 |
|
In 1996, the U.S. government declared 174.3 metric tons (MT) of highly enriched uranium (HEU) as surplus military material. This HEU was taken primarily from dismantled U.S. nuclear warheads.
USEC was involved in the disposition of 14.2 MT of this material in the form of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and about 50 MT primarily in the form of HEU oxide and metal.
Through the U.S. HEU Downblending Program, the HEU material was diluted or "downblended" into low-enriched uranium (LEU), which is useless for military purposes, but can be used by commercial nuclear power plants as fuel to generate electricity.
Through this recycling program, USEC marketed the LEU fuel to its nuclear utility customers.
In July 1998, USEC’s Portsmouth Plant in Ohio completed the first downblending program (of 14.2 MT HEU). This HEU material yielded about 388 MT of LEU fuel.
In August 1998, USEC contracted with BWX Technologies (BWXT) to perform the second downblending program (of about 50 MT of HEU). Processing began in December 1999 and completed in 2006. The dilution process yielded approximately 660 MT of LEU fuel.
Taken together, the two downblending programs produced enough LEU fuel to power a 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor for about 52 years. Such a reactor can produce enough electricity to power a city the size of Boston or Seattle for about 43 years.