10 April (NucNet): Russia and Uzbekistan have signed an intergovernmental agreement for the removal and export to Russia of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) fuel from Uzbekistan’s IIN-3M research reactor in Tashkent, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom has said.
The fuel, estimated to be about five kilogrammes (11 pounds), will be removed and flown to Russia’s Mayak nuclear fuel plant for reprocessing later this year, Rosatom said. The Mayak plant is in the closed nuclear town of Ozersk (or Ozyorsk) on Russia’s border with Kazakhstan.
The IIN-3M research reactor, owned and operated by JSV Foton, has a thermal power capacity of 20 kilowatts. It has been in operation since 1975 and is used for the testing of semiconductors and other devices.
The agreement will result in the removal of all HEU from Uzbekistan and is part of international commitments to the strengthening of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, Rosatom said.
The agreement is within the scope of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), which aims to reduce and protect vulnerable nuclear and radiological material located at civilian sites. Under the GTRI Russia repatriates HEU from Russian-designed civilian nuclear installations.
The GTRI covers 14 countries hosting Russian-designed research reactors and in 2014, apart from Uzbekistan, HEU fuel will be sent back to Russia from Poland and Kazakhstan.
In 2012, Uzbekistan’s Institute of Nuclear Physics, which operates the country’s VVR-SM research reactor in Ulugbek, outside of Tashkent, exported highly irradiated fuel assemblies weighing 73 kg (160 lbs) to Russia.
The VVR-SM reactor was modified to use low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, which is being supplied by Rosatom’s fuel company subsidiary TVEL.
According to the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, after seven transfers of HEU from the facility to Russia, on 1 November 2012 the US National Nuclear Security Administration announced that the Institute of Nuclear Physics VVR-SM facility had been completely cleared of HEU.
