The nuclear fuel required for many of the preferred designs of advanced civilian nuclear power plants presents a path to easier production of nuclear weapons, according to an article in the June 7 issue of Science magazine. Despite the nonproliferation risks of “High Assay Low Enriched Uranium” (HALEU), the federal government is subsidizing its production.
A team of experts led by MIT’s R. Scott Kemp and including Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Mark Deinert of the Colorado School of Mines, legendary physicist and hydrogen bomb designer Richard Garwin, and Frank von Hipple of Princeton University concluded, “Were HALEU to become a standard reactor fuel without appropriate restrictions determined by an interagency security review, other countries would be able to obtain, produce, and process weapons-usable HALEU with impunity, eliminating the sharp distinction between peaceful and nonpeaceful nuclear programs.”
While nuclear fuel for conventional reactors is enriched to 3-5% U-235, many of the new designs, particularly those looking for smaller footprints, call for fuel enriched to 10-20% U-235. Reactors using “fast” neutrons need at least 6% enriched fuel, and some call for enrichment to 19.75%. Enrichment above 20% is considered “highly enriched uranium (HEU) and “internationally recognized as being directly usable in nuclear weapons.”
Terra Power, the company founded by Bill Gates, plans to use 19.75% fuel in its small modular reactor planned for construction in Kemmerer, Wyo., site of a closed coal-fired power plant.
Kemp et al conclude that fuel enriched to above about 12% could be used to make bombs equivalent to those that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and ushered in the world of concerns about uncontrolled proliferation of nuclear weapons. International controls in place for over 30 years have worked, not always successfully, to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons.
“Governments and others promoting the use of HALEU have not carefully considered the potential proliferation and terrorism risks that the wide adoption of this fuel creates.”
“Governments and others promoting the use of HALEU have not carefully considered the potential proliferation and terrorism risks that the wide adoption of this fuel creates,” write Kemp et al.
HALEU is not widely available today as it is used only in a few research and test reactors. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has licensed two firms to produce HALEU. Centrus Energy is licensed to produce 600 kilograms (1,322.77 pounds) of HALEU up to 19.75% enrichment and Louisiana Energy Services (Urenco) may produce HALEU up to 5.5% enrichment. The Department of Energy, according to the NRC, can “downblend” its bomb-grade uranium at its own facilities through the National Nuclear Safety Administration.
Washington recently allocated $2.7 billion in federal funds to subsidize domestic uranium enrichment including HALEU, as the nation’s nuclear power plants get a quarter of their reactor-grade uranium from Russia. A new law will ban importation of Russian uranium in 2028.
According to Kemp et al, “a reasonable balance of the risks and benefits would be struck if enrichments for power reactor fuels were restricted to less than 10 to 12% uranium-235,” allowing many reactor designs to move forward.
“A key outcome of this study,” they write, “should be to set a new, technically justified, and lower enrichment limit for weapons-usable uranium. An unfettered HALEU policy leaves no margin of safety.”
The Science article quickly produced pushback from civilian nuclear power advocates. Nuclear engineer Rod Adams (aka Atomicrod), a prominent advocate of all civilian nuclear power options, posted on Twitter, “Dozens of new designs with attractive features would be neutered. IMO, a more productive response is to demonstrate effective protective measures & inventory controls that do an adequate job. Accepting small probability events with plenty of layers remaining before employment of a weapon will allow immense benefits for humanity.”
–Kennedy Maize
To subscribe: The Quad Report