US helps Ukraine get rid of enriched uranium

Washington

(AFP) Dec 31, 2010 The United States has helped Ukraine remove 50 kilos (111 pounds) of highly enriched uranium from three Ukrainian sites to be disposed of in Russia, US officials announced Friday. The move was made as part of a pledge by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych at a nuclear security summit in Washington in April to remove all his country's highly enriched uranium -- which can be used to make atomic weapons -- by 2012.
"This action brings us all one step closer to securing all vulnerable nuclear materials," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
"These actions represent continued Ukrainian leadership in making sure that nuclear weapons never fall into the hands of a terrorist, and working toward a world without nuclear weapons."
In April 2009, Obama promised in a landmark speech in Prague to work towards a world without nuclear weapons. But he has admitted he does not expect to see that goal reached in his lifetime.
"The removal of this highly enriched uranium from Ukraine is a major milestone that brings us one step closer to US President Obama's goal of securing all nuclear material around the world within four years," said Thomas D'Agostino, director of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Five flights in the last half of December were made to remove the highly enriched uranium, fly it to Russia in specially designed caskets, and replace it with low enriched uranium for Ukraine, the NNSA said in its statement.
"NNSA worked closely with Ukrainian authorities, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom to complete this very complicated operation," it added.
As part of the deal, NNSA flew two air shipments of low enriched uranium -- which cannot be used to make a bomb -- to replace the highly enriched uranium located at the Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research and the Kharkiv Institute for Physics and Technology.
"The remaining three flights removed fresh HEU from the facilities in Kiev and Kharkiv as well as the Sevastopol National University of Nuclear Industry and Energy," the NNSA statement added.
The United States also provided Ukraine with new safety equipment and agreed to work with Kiev and Moscow to build a state-of-the-art neutron source facility at the Kharkiv Institute, it added.
"The low enriched uranium and nuclear safety equipment provided to Ukraine in connection with this shipment will support Ukraine's development of safe and secure nuclear energy," Obama added in his statement.
In May, the NNSA working with Ukrainian authorities also successfully removed 56 kilograms (123 pounds) of Russian-origin highly-enriched uranium spent fuel which was taken to Russia by train for storage and disposal.
The US nuclear administration said it had now removed or helped to dispose of 3,085 kilograms (6,700 pounds) of highly enriched uranium and plutonium, adding that represented "enough material to make more than 120 nuclear weapons."

Four-Year Nuclear Security Plan Needs More Detail, GAO Says

Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101216_6900.php

The Obama administration should address in more specific terms how it plans to achieve its goal of securing all loose nuclear material in the world within four years, congressional investigators said in a report released yesterday (see GSN, April 14).
The National Security Council has signed off on a comprehensive approach for the material security plan "that describes the scope and objectives of the interagency effort and identifies the main efforts by U.S. agencies and programs to support the initiative," according to a summary of the Government Accountability Office report.
"However, this interagency strategy lacks specific details concerning how the initiative will be implemented, including the identity of vulnerable foreign nuclear material sites and facilities to be addressed, agencies and programs responsible for addressing each site, planned activities at each location, potential challenges and strategies for overcoming those obstacles, anticipated time lines, and cost estimates," according to the document. "As a result, key details associated with the initiative are unclear, including its overall estimated cost, time frame, and scope of planned work."
Congressional auditors found that two Energy Department nonproliferation programs -- the Materials Consolidation and Conversion program and the Global Threat Reduction Initiative -- have worked to lock down Russia's nuclear warheads and supplies less effectively than the department's Material Protection, Control and Accounting program (see GSN, Dec 13).
Moscow's uncertain dedication to joint U.S.-Russian nuclear threat reduction work has placed in question the future of the three programs, all of which are overseen by the Energy Department's semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, the report asserts.
The MPC&A effort faced an uphill drive to augment measures for protecting a number of Russian atomic sites against internal and external security risks and turning responsibility for the new safeguards over to Moscow, the document states. The difficulties were likely to prevent compliance with a U.S. legal mandate that Russia fully take over the MPC&A program by the start of 2013, the report says. The auditors urged the Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration to develop a more precise breakdown of the initiative's uncompleted objectives and anticipated expenses in Russia.
In China and India, political concerns have restricted NNSA nuclear security activities to the exchange of security best practices, training and demonstration efforts, the report notes.
The Energy Department agency was moving forward in negotiations with South Africa, Ukraine and other nations to expedite the removal of potential nuclear bomb ingredients within their borders, the auditors found (U.S. Government Accountability Office release, Dec. 15).

Energy Chief Calls For Review of Nuclear Projects from GSN Daily News

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has ordered an independent assessment of plans for a new plutonium research facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and a new uranium processing plant in Tennessee, the Albuquerque Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 27).
Chu has directed the formation of a panel of specialists with "no stake in the outcome" to analyze the necessity for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement complex at Los Alamos and the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, a department release said (see GSN, July 27).
The Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement complex is planned to take the place of a World War II-era plutonium laboratory. Officials have maintained that the plutonium site's work is critical to fulfilling Los Alamos's nuclear weapons mission. The project is now estimated to cost no less than $4 billion -- a figure significantly greater than earlier estimates. Design activities have yet to conclude and the project has missed its original schedule by years.
Likewise, cost estimates for the Y-12 highly enriched uranium processing center have seriously overshot earlier informal estimates of between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion. News reports indicate the site could cost up to $5 billion to build.
Developing the two facilities is key to the Obama administration's pursuit of Senate ratification of a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control pact, the Journal reported. A number of Republican senators have said their potential support for the treaty would depend upon sufficient funding for modernizing the nation's nuclear-weapon complex (see related GSN story, today).
The National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous arms of the Energy Department, has oversight over the two projects. The Energy and Defense departments have already initiated separate analyses of the facilities' funding requirements (John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal, Oct. 28).
http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101029_3756.php

Nuclear Plan Shows Cuts and Massive Investments

The Obama administration’s first nuclear weapons stockpile management plan is ready

By Hans M. Kristensen
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has sent Congress the FY 2011 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan (SSMP) with new information about what the administration plans to spend on maintaining and modernizing nuclear weapons and facilities over the next 15-20 years.
FAS and UCS got hold of the unclassified sections of the plan and have analyzed what the Obama administration’s first nuclear weapons management plan tells us about how the Prague speech vision will be translated into national nuclear weapons policy. The SSMP consists of five sections (three are unclassified):

• FY 2011 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan Summary (unclassified)
• Annex A – FY 2011 Stockpile Stewardship Plan (unclassified)
• Annex B – FY 2011 Stockpile Management Plan (classified)
• Annex C – FY 2011 Science, Technology, and Engineering Report on Stockpile Stewardship Criteria and Assessment of Stockpile Stewardship Program (classified), and
• Annex D – FY 2011 Biennial Plan and Budget Assessment on the Modernization and Refurbishment of the Nuclear Security Complex (unclassified)

More at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2010/07/stockpileplan.php?utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_content=micheletkearney%40gmail.com&utm_campaign=Accomplishment+blast-+10-20-10-+FAS+supporters

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New U.S. Nuke Dismantlement Project Set to Begin

from GSN Daily News

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said today it had signed off on disassembly of B-53 nuclear bombs at the Pantex Plant in Texas (see GSN, Sept. 7).
The agency authorized the work following "an extensive safety review," according to a press release from the semiautonomous arm of the Energy Department. More at:

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101013_6831.php

Fusion "Ignition" Test Conducted at Livermore Lab

Fusion "Ignition" Test Conducted at Livermore Lab

from GSN Daily News

The United States has completed its first test in a new line of experiments aimed at achieving nuclear fusion "ignition" using a giant laser array at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 1).
The successful test at the laboratory's National Ignition Facility focused one megajoule of energy on a pellet containing a combination of tritium, deuterium and hydrogen. The fuel blend was intended to enable the most comprehensive physics, a needed milestone in efforts to achieve ignition, the nuclear agency said (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, Oct. 6). The pellet's temperature was reduced to minus 425 degrees Fahrenheit for the Sept. 29 test, the Contra Costa Times reported.
The energy of the facility's 192 lasers on the gold-coated pellet prompted the release of 1,000 times more neutrons than the site's previous experiments; such particles are expected to power future ignition tests, according to the newspaper (Suzanne Bohan, Contra Costa Times, Oct. 6).
Various systems under review performed together as expected in the test, which involved 26 target diagnostics, according to an NNSA press release. The process under investigation is mainly intended to help measure the safety and dependability of U.S. nuclear weapons, but it could also have energy and other applications.

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U.S. Detonates Explosives in Plutonium Study from GSN Daily News

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The United States on Wednesday conducted an underground non-nuclear test detonation in Nevada to study the behavior of plutonium, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 13).
The event, code-named "Bacchus," was the 24th subcritical test conducted since 1997 at what is now called the Nevada National Security Site. It was first such experiment since the "Unicorn" detonation on Aug. 30, 2006, at the installation, previously known as the Nevada Test Site, the National Nuclear Security Administration indicated (see GSN, Aug. 24).
Subcritical tests, which do not involve fission chain reactions that produce nuclear explosions, are key to ensuring the dependability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent, according to U.S. officials.
In the latest study, Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers detonated conventional explosives surrounding a cache of radioactive material in a uniquely built sphere, NNSA spokesman Darwin Morgan said. The test, conducted in a vault roughly 1,000 feet below the earth's surface, produced no nuclear reaction and emitted no radioactivity, he said.
Opponents of subcritical tests contend the experiments go against the purpose of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a pact Washington has yet to ratify (see GSN, July 27; Ken Ritter, Associated Press/Reno Gazette-Journal, Sept. 16).

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U.S. to Boost Radiation Detection Aid to South Korea

An agreement signed yesterday calls for increased U.S. support for South Korea's efforts to combat the illegal trafficking of nuclear materials, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced (see GSN, Oct. 1, 2008).

Under the new memorandum of understanding, the U.S. nuclear agency would collaborate with Korean Customs on fielding radiation detection technology and "associated infrastructure" at additional terminals at the Port of Busan, according to a press release.
The agreement builds on earlier cargo security efforts begun by the U.S. Energy and Homeland Security departments with Korean Customs. The latest project would be carried out under the NNSA Second Line of Defense program's Megaports Initiative, which supports foreign governments' efforts to prevent and catch smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive substances through seaports.
"The Megaports Agreement signed today strengthens the United States' and the Republic of Korea’s joint commitment to the safety and security of our nations," U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman said in a statement. "The Megaports Initiative is a critical part of NNSA's efforts ... to secure vulnerable nuclear material and keep it out of the hands of terrorists, smugglers and proliferators. The success of this program is due in no small part to the continued and future cooperation and support from partners such as the Republic of Korea" (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, Sept. 16).

U.S. Said to Have Major Surplus of Fissile Material

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010

The U.S. Energy Department is storing 324 metric tons of weapon-usable uranium even as President Barack Obama is calling for foreign countries to get rid of their own stockpiles of the fissile material, a government watchdog said in a report released today (see GSN, March 30).

The report from the Project on Government Oversight calls on the Obama administration to designate part of the highly enriched uranium stockpile as excess inventory and to ratchet up the amount of material being converted annually into low-enriched uranium fuel for nuclear power plants, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The HEU stockpile started to balloon in past years following implementation of several nuclear arms control treaties that required retirement of thousands of nuclear weapons. The United States ceased enriching uranium to bomb-grade levels when the Cold War ended.
The National Nuclear Security Administration -- the semiautonomous Energy Department agency with oversight over the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile -- stood behind its HEU conversion rate and pointed out the expense and complications associated with the effort. The agency did not disclose the specific size of the HEU stockpile.
The nuclear agency also claimed it was not sending conflicting signals by holding the surplus while urging other nations to eliminate or secure theirs. Nuclear installations in the United States are highly secure and NNSA officials offer their expertise to countries looking to surrender their own fissile materials, the agency said.
Still, nuclear watchdog groups and U.S. lawmakers are giving the issue greater attention.
"The U.S. would be on higher moral ground if we clearly articulated that we are working to minimize our use of highly enriched uranium," Nuclear Threat Initiative President Joan Rohlfing said. "It should be the norm that every country with these materials publishes their status."
"We are awash in surplus" HEU material, International Panel on Fissile Materials co-Chairman Frank von Hippel said. He, however, estimated the size of the U.S. surplus to be much smaller at 60 metric tons.
House Armed Services Committee staffers hope to learn more about the rate of HEU conversion during an upcoming trip to a $500 million uranium storage site in Tennessee, a GOP source said (Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 14).
[Editor's Note: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]

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NNSA Chief Sees Opportunity, Challenge in Merging Two Warhead Updates

NNSA Chief Sees Opportunity, Challenge in Merging Two Warhead Updates

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100914_7078.php

By Elaine M. Grossman

Global Security Newswire

Technicians in 1990 perform maintenance on a U.S. Minuteman 3 ICBM, a ballistic missile that can carry the W-78 nuclear warhead. The National Nuclear Security Administration hopes to study how the W-78 and another warhead, the W-88, might be refurbished using a single set of common replacement parts, NNSA head Thomas D'Agostino said last week (U.S. Air Force photo).

WASHINGTON -- The head of U.S. nuclear security said he sees both benefits and hurdles in a possible effort to overhaul two different nuclear warhead designs using a single update package (see GSN, Dec. 24, 2009).
The Obama administration has requested that Congress appropriate $26 million in fiscal 2011 to study what it would take to initiate a joint program to refurbish the W-78 warhead, used on Air Force Minuteman 3 ICBMs, and the W-88 warhead, which sits atop Navy Trident D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
"There are opportunities to potentially have fewer life extensions" by combining efforts that typically cost billions of dollars for each warhead design, Thomas D'Agostino, who leads the National Nuclear Security Administration, told reporters last week.

See Full Article...

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Turning Russian Nukes into U.S. Energy By Eben Harrell / London

Turning Russian Nukes into U.S. Energy

By Eben Harrell / London

 

In 1993, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. and the Russian Federation signed a landmark arms-control accord. The "Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Purchase Agreement" called for Russia to dismantle thousands of nuclear warheads and convert the weapons-grade uranium in the bombs into fuel for American nuclear-power plants. The agreement is rarely talked about today, but it has been a huge success: Nearly 10% of all electricity in the U.S. is generated by nuclear material taken from the tips of Russian missiles once aimed at American cities.
Think about that: one in every ten lightbulbs in U.S. kitchens, Wal-Marts and baseball stadiums is illuminated by nuclear energy initially designed to obliterate millions of Americans. On Thursday, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which monitors the dismantling of Russian weapons on behalf of the U.S. government, announced that the agreement has reached a milestone: Approximately 400 metric tons of Russian highly enriched uranium — the equivalent of around 16,000 nuclear weapons — have now been converted into low-enriched uranium, the form of the element needed to power nuclear reactors. In the vexing effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons, this little-publicized agreement provides arms-control advocates with an inspirational example of success — and a model for how to move forward.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2017465,00.html#ixzz0zFuhXjkT

 

NNSA Announces Elimination of More Than 400 Metric Tons of Russian HEU

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NNSA NEWS

National Nuclear Security Administration

U.S. Department of Energy      

For Immediate Release

September 9, 2010      

Contact:  NNSA Public Affairs, (202) 586-7371

NNSA Announces Elimination of More Than 400 Metric Tons of Russian HEU
Program reaches 80 percent completion milestone

WASHINGTON, DC - The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today announced that it has monitored the elimination of more than 400 metric tons (MT) of Russian highly enriched uranium (HEU) – the equivalent of more than 16,000 nuclear weapons – under a landmark nuclear nonproliferation program.

The 1993 U.S.-Russian HEU Purchase Agreement is now 80 percent complete and by 2013 will convert 500 MT of HEU from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into low enriched uranium (LEU) for peaceful nuclear energy use. Nearly half of all electricity generated in commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. comes from fuel that has its origins in Russian nuclear weapons. 

"This is the ultimate swords to plowshares program, and I commend the continued joint commitment of the U.S. and Russian Federation to the safe and irreversible elimination of excess fissile materials under this important bilateral agreement," said NNSA Administrator Thomas D'Agostino. "This milestone puts us one step closer to accomplishing the President's goal of securing or eliminating all weapons-usable nuclear materials worldwide."

The agreement requires the Russian Federation to convert weapons-origin HEU into LEU in Russia. The LEU is then delivered to the U.S. where it is fabricated into nuclear fuel and used in commercial reactors to generate approximately 10 percent of all electrical power nationwide.

NNSA's HEU Transparency Program monitors the Russian HEU to LEU conversion process to ensure that all LEU delivered to the U.S. under the agreement is derived from Russian weapons HEU. The Program implements extensive access and monitoring rights during 24 annual monitoring visits to four Russian HEU processing facilities. At these facilities, U.S. experts measure and observe HEU processing firsthand, and this information allows the U.S. to confirm that Russian HEU conversion activities fulfill the agreement’s nonproliferation goals.

To date, the NNSA Program has conducted 290 monitoring visits to Russian HEU processing facilities, and U.S. experts monitor the elimination of 30 metric tons of HEU each year – the annual equivalent of 1,200 nuclear weapons. The Russian Federation also conducts reciprocal monitoring activities at U.S. facilities to confirm the peaceful use of all LEU delivered under the agreement. 

The United States Enrichment Corp. and Techsnabexport, the executive agents for the agreement, manage the commercial aspects and logistics of the uranium shipments and transfers.

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        Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science in the nation’s national security enterprise. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; reduces the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad. Visit http://www.nnsa.energy.gov/ for more information.