Part 2 of 2 Parts
Although identification and management of both nuclear materials and their disposition pathways are critical capabilities at SRNL, President Trump’s May 2025 executive orders centered on reinvigorating the nuclear industry cast light on supply chain and feedstock availability. SRNL rapidly identified the available inventory due to the extensive evaluations conducted over the previous decade and was able to respond within days to requests in the executive orders for potential HALEU volumes that could be produced. The disposition study turned into a production study. It was decided that additional material to meet our nation’s needs would be required beyond what was initially recovered.
The demand for fuel left SRNL with two important questions:
1. If the separations technology at SRS’s H Canyon became operational, how much fuel could be created from the available supply of spent nuclear fuel from research reactors that is available on-site?
2. How much HALEU could be produced from non-traditional feedstocks identified through the TBD program at SRS and other federal nuclear research sites?
The projected demand for HALEU far exceeds the supply, and numerous efforts are underway to mitigate the near-term supply shortfall in the needed supply. H Canyon is currently engaged in restarting the capability to produce HALEU from on-site HEU using natural uranium as blendstock. SRNL conducted a study that explored the potential to produce more HALEU from existing HEU stocks by using about ten precent wt%-U-235 enriched material (known as LEU+) as a replacement for the natural uranium.
During analysis of HEU solutions available at SRS, SRNL scientists measured levels of certain impurities for which fuel fabricators had provided specifications. While downblending with natural uranium lowered some impurity levels to meet the required specifications, the concept of LEU+ resulted from a mitigation strategy for the remaining high impurity levels. SRNL was able to reduce the impurities while creating more HALEU by using LEU+, as opposed to natural uranium, for downblending. Compared with the baseline approach of making HALEU from existing natural uranium, the LEU+ approach will produce roughly three metric tons more HALEU. The baseline natural uranium approach creates roughly four metric tons of HALEU as opposed to the nearly seven metric tons for LEU+.
SRNL is partnering with SRS’s management and operations contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, on production of the initial HALEU. If their progress continues at the current rate, the first load of HALEU will be delivered to a fuel fabricator in the fall of 2027.
Tom Shehee is a SRNL scientist who performs much of the materials characterization work for the HALEU program. He said, “We will be giving the industry a shot in the arm to help get them going. Fuel will require very tight specifications. What we have can meet that and also proves that we could reprocess other used fuels to create additional HALEU if desired.”
The costs required to pivot to downblending with LEU+ instead of the natural uranium approach could offer increased efficiency of operational cycles and increased throughput with process optimization.
SRNL’s expertise in the back end of the fuel cycle has become very valuable in establishing necessary feedstocks for the front end. The history of identification and characterization expertise in nuclear materials and innovative spirit of problem solving will lead the race in establishing a secure future for nuclear energy technology. With an environmental stewardship mindset, SRNL does not limit its focus to front-end fuel supply requirements. It also considers strategy development for irradiated material and the reprocessing opportunities it holds, working to close the fuel cycle and make implementation of advanced reactors a reality for our nation.