ML23251A089
| ML23251A089 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 09/13/2023 |
| From: | Sabrina Atack NRC/OIP |
| To: | Kuperman A University of Texas at Austin |
| References | |
| Download: ML23251A089 (3) | |
Text
September 13, 2023 Alan J. Kuperman Associate Professor LBJ School of Public Affairs Coordinator, Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project University of Texas at Austin
SUBJECT:
RESPONSE TO COMMENTS CONTAINED IN PETITION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE AND REQUEST FOR HEARING ON U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION EXPORT LICENSE APPLICATION XSNM3819
Dear Dr. Kuperman,
On March 5, 2021, you filed a petition for leave to intervene and request for hearing on U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) export license application XSNM3819. In CLI-23-02 (ADAMS Accession No. ML23254A205), the NRC denied your petition. Notwithstanding, the NRC considered the technical and policy points raised in your petition as public comments on the application in accordance with 10 CFR 110.81(a). Your supplemental comment letter dated January 5, 2023 (ADAMS Accession No. ML23005A228), was also considered in this context, and likewise factored into the NRCs evaluation of the application and licensing criteria.
The initial part of your petition noted historical information, as well as U.S. policy, laws, and regulations, related to exports of high enriched uranium (HEU). You cited successful efforts to reduce global usage of HEU, and provided examples where you asserted that certain exports of HEU were misused.
Specific to export license application XSNM3819, your petition asserted that the applicant withheld information necessary for statutory public participation and therefore you requested additional information, including when Institute Laue-Langevin (ILL) will exhaust its current HEU supply for its High Flux Reactor (the RHF), how long the proposed export of HEU would be expected to last, and when the French operator expected to complete conversion to LEU fuel.
The applicant provided this information in a response to your petition on April 5, 2021 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21095A265).
The remaining technical points in your petition, as well as in your January 5, 2023, supplemental letter, coalesced on an overall assertion that the full quantity of HEU requested for export was not justified because: nearer-term conversion to a qualified LEU fuel could obviate the need for the full amount of HEU; and the current inventory of HEU at ILL from the United States 2016 export of HEU should last long enough such that the full amount requested in the current application (XSNM3819) is not needed. As noted in your petition, and re-asserted in your supplemental letter, you concluded that: approval of the full amount of HEU in the license request would raise substantial risk of creating a surplus of U.S.-origin HEU abroad, which
A. Kuperman 2 would be inimical to the common defense and security. Therefore, you challenged whether the NRC could meet its statutory requirements to approve the license.
The NRC carefully considered the details of each of your technical and policy assertions contained in your petition and supplemental letter. To support this review, the NRC sought additional information and insights from its U.S. Government partners, including technical experts on reactor fuel conversion who collaborate with ILL, who in turn obtained additional information from ILL. In this case, the amount of HEU to authorize for export is fundamentally a technical judgment based on existing inventory and projected fuel needs for the RHF until expected conversion to LEU fuel. Based on 2023 information of existing inventory as well as past and predicted consumption rates at the RHF, our experts concluded that the existing inventory combined with the amount of HEU requested in the application is likely to last until late 2029. Since conversion of the RHF from HEU fuel to a properly qualified LEU fuel is not reasonably expected to occur until 2031, even if the HEU consumption rates turn out to be lower than projected, the HEU is still unlikely to last beyond the 2031 target date for conversion.
Therefore, the NRC concluded that authorizing the full amount of HEU requested would not constitute an unnecessary or excessive amount, and therefore would not be inimical to the common defense and security of the United States.
On September 11, 2023, the NRC issued export license XSNM3819 (enclosed). However, the license contains a condition that the licensee obtain annual reports from ILL regarding the planned and actual usage of HEU fuel in the RHF. While the full amount of HEU authorized by this license is not expected to be enough to last until projected conversion in 2031, annual reports on actual HEU usage in the RHFin conjunction with U.S. collaboration on the fuel conversion projectwill better allow the U.S. Government to monitor and anticipate whether ILL might request additional HEU toward the end of this decade. We believe this condition is also responsive to your concerns because it helps ensure a closer and more routine review of the usage of this U.S.-origin HEU.
Enclosure:
Export License XSNM3819 Sincerely, Signed by Atack, Sabrina on 09/13/23 Sabrina D. Atack, Deputy Director Office of International Programs
A. Kuperman 3
SUBJECT:
RESPONSE TO COMMENTS CONTAINED IN PETITION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE AND REQUEST FOR HEARING ON U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION EXPORT LICENSE APPLICATION XSNM3819 DATED: SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 ADAMS Accession Number: ML23251A089 OFFICE OIP/ECNP OIP/ECNP OIP/DD NAME BMiller PHabighorst SAtack DATE 09/11/2023 09/12/2023 09/13/2023 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY