ML25260A561

SECY-78-82: State Letter on HEU Exports

ML25260A561
Person / Time
Issue date:	02/10/1978
From:	James Shea NRC/OIP
To:	Commissioners NRC/OCM
References
SECY-78-82
Download: ML25260A561 (1)

Text

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/' "UCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIOI\

February 10, 19,c!

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SECY-78-82 INFOR'.MATION REPORT For:

The* Corrmissioners From:

James R. Shea, Director Office of International Programs Thru:

Subject:

r' Executive Director for.Operations STATE LETTER ON HEU EXPORTS

Purpose:

Discussion:

Enclosure:

As stated

Contact:

M.A. Guhin 492-7866

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To inform the Commission of the subject letter.

State's response to my letter of December 28, which transmitted cormnents by Commissioners Gilinsky and Bradford on the Department's proposed memorandum to Dr. Btzezinski regarding proposed exports of signift-cant*quantities of HEU, is attached for your.

information.

In brief, the letter confirms information we provided you previously on the proposed exports to South Korea and Romania and di~cusses HEU exports for breeder development programs.

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DEPART~ENT OF STATE u

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BUREAU OF OCEANS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS February 3, 1978 CONFIDENTIAL Mr. James R. Shea, Director--* --.._

Office of International PhQgrams Room 6 7 a a* -* MNBB Nuclear Regulatory Commission 7735 Old Georgetown Road Bethesda, Maryland This is in response to your letter to Dr. Nye of December 28, 1977 transmitting comments by Commissioners Gilinsky and Bradford on the Department's proposed memo-randum to Dr. Brzezinski regarding pending applications for the export of significant quantities of highly en-riched uranium.

As you are a~are, the policy of the Administration with regard to exports of HEU is that the U.S. will meet its existing commitments while working to 1) reduce_ HEU inventories abroad and 2) identify projects and facili-ties for which conver§j.pn_ to low enriched uran-ium is technically and economically feasible, and encouraging HEU recipients to undertake conversion in such cases.

In regard to the Korean export application, prior to re-ceipt of your letter, on the basis of our further assess-ment that the Republic of Korea's needs for HEU at this time were considerably more limited than indicated in their request, we deleted this case from those applica-tions being recommended to the President for approval.

However, we have included the Romanian case in this package, with an expanded discussion of the special cir-cumstances relating to this proposed export (see en-closure).

With regard to the proposed exports _of HEU for ~se in fueling the Rapsodie and KNK-II reactors, for which we have also recommended Presidential *approval, both the

• Rapsodie and KNK-II reactors are developmental stages in 60NFIDEN'i'IA~

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their countries' fast reactor programs.

The Rapsodie is used primarily in the evaluation of t he performance of new types of liquid metal fast breeder reactor fuels.

The KNK-II is a prototype liquid metal cooled, fast neutron spectrum nuclear power plant.

It has been used in support of the FRG's LMFBR developmental program, but is not actually.a breeder reactor-;--........__

I would note that the Administration has not terminated research and development of liquid metal fast b1;eedP.r rP.-

actors, which continues at several sites, the principal facility being the Fast Reactor Test Facility in Hanford.

In fact, during the London Economic Summit, Pres~dent Carter advised our close allies, "including France and the FRG, that we do not intend to prevent others from develop-ing breeder reactors since we ourselves will continue breeder development, although we will not move toward com-mercial reprocessing or construction of a demonstration breeder.

In this regard, the U.S. breeder research program has been restructured_* to give greater priority to alternative designs which are. more proliferation resistant.

The French and Germans are also investigating alternative LMFBR fuel cycles through their participation in INFCE.

The Ra~sodie and KNK-II fast reactors, while related to LMFBR develop-ment, are considered equally essential in the testing and evaluation of alternative LMFBR cycles.

In recognition of this situation, the DOE is in the process of broadening the scope of existing bilateral agreements with the French and Germans on advanced reactor cooperation to encompass re-search on safer alternatives to the LMFBR.

In light of the foregoing, it is our belief that the continued operation of facilities such as Rapsodie and

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KNK-II is fully consistent with the Administration ' s policy and is analagous to the U.S. fast breeder development effort which the Administration is supporting.

I trust the foregoing_ adequately covers the areas on which Commissioners Gilinsty : and Bradford have expressed concern.

Sincerely, ~-

~ouis V. Nosenzo Deputy Assistant Secretary

Enclosure:

As stated.

u ROMANIA Facility TRIGA-14 megawatt-thermal Steady State Reactor (SSR)

Institute of Nuclear Technologies ' -

Romania State Committee for Nu-c-lear Energy Pietesti, Romania

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Quantity of Material Re-quested 51.5 Kg. U-235@ 93%

Fuel Converter/Fabricator:

General Atomic Company', United States Quantity of Unirradiated HEU (Kgs. of U-235) Excluding Current Reauest On Hand To Be Delivered Totals In Country 0

0 0

Justification of Need for HEU at This Time At Facility 0

0 0

The SSR, which is expected to become operational within the next several months, will be used for long-term testing of power reactor fuel and fuel assembly components as part of Romania's comprehensive program to develop its own power reactor fuel fabrication capability.

The reactor will be used to - improve

._,,,. fuel fabrication techniques based on the experimental test re-

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• It is designed for flexibility of core arrangements to accommodate various experiments and in the production of radio-

• isotopes.

_ T~e decision _to permit US supply of this reactor and fuel was made in 1971, with the concurrence of the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and with the.rele*vant Congressional committee (Joint Committee on Atomic Energy).

Supply of the reactor and fuel has also been approved by COCOM.

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The quantity of material requested in the pending export license application is for the reactor's initial fuel loading plus an additional twenty fuel assemblies for refueling the reactor periodical~y over about a two-year period of operation.

The Executive Branch will recommend to the NRC that the quan~

tity to be exported initially unde~ the license be limited to 38.675 kilogra!JlS of U-235, which-i._s sufficient for the initial core plus six spares, approximately a one to two-year's supply.

The remainder of the material will be shipped when actually needed.

This export will place Romania in the categ9ry of

• countries possessing more than 15 kilograms of unirradiated

~-~'-~:. U-235 contained in highly-enriched uranium.

Steps Taken to Determine the Possibi1ity of Converting the Facility to Use of Fuel of Lower Enrichment Department requested information from the manufacturer of the reactor and its HEU fuel as to whether fuel of a lower enrichment could be substituted for this proposed export.

In response, the manufacturer stated that it has guaranteed both the core lifetime and the reactor thermal flux.

Failure to achieve either of these_guarantees, which are dependent upon use of HEU fuel, would-result in financial penalties.

Subsequently, the Argonne National Laboratory was re-quested to assess the feasibility of using lower-enriched fuel in this reactor.

Argonne reported that it would be possible to use fuel of an enrichment (somewhere between 50 percent and 93 percent U-235) but this would cause substantial fuel cycle cost increases in relation to use of 93 percent fuel.

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• Furthermore, such lower enriched fuel, at the present state cit)~i. of fuel development, could not meet the "length of core life"

~'.> guarantee that the manufacturer has extended in connection

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We plan to conduct a detailed analysis of the possibility of modifying the reactor to use lower enriched uranium fuel.

We hope to complete this analysis and related discussions with the facility operators involved within a period of about.two years.

Executive Branch Agencv Views All concerned Agencies recommend approval of this export license application.

Approve _____ _

Disapprc,ve ------