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Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6) CylindersMonitoring Needs

NNSA UF6 Cylinder Monitoring Study AuthorsG. Eccleston ConsultantR. Babcock LLNLJ. Bedell LANLG. Cefus SRNLD. Hanks SRNLJ. Jo BNLM. Laughter ORNLJ. Oakberg ConsultantM. Rosenthal BNLJ. Tape ConsultantM. Whittaker ORNL

George Eccleston & Ed Wonder

Discussion withNMMSS Users Group Meeting

Las Vegas, NVMay 18, 2010

Twelve ton Type 48Y UF6 Cylinder

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Cylinders are used to store, transport and process UF6

Cylinders are manufactured and certified to ISO and ANSI specifications 30B Cylinder at a feed/withdrawal station

• Filled cylinders can be safely handled at contact without radiation shielding (< 3.0 mrem/hr). Natural background radiation is ~ 0.04 mrem/hr

• Cylinders are easily handled and moved with the proper lifting equipment

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UF6 Cylinder Types*

Cylinder Model

Nominal Diameter

inches

Maximum

UF6

kgs

Maximum

U

kgs

Maximum Enrichment

% 235U

Maximum 235U

kgs

1S 1.5 0.45 0.30 100 0.30

2S 3.5 2.22 1.50 100 1.50

5A/5B 5 24.95 16.9 100 16.9

8A 8 115.7 78.2 12.5 9.8

12A/12B 12 208.7 141.1 5.0 7.1

30B 30 2,277 1,540 5.0 77

48A/X 48 21,030 14,219 4.5 640

48F 48 27,030 18,276 4.5 822

48G 48 26,840 18,148 1.0 181

48Y 48 27,560 18,634 4.5 839

48H/HX/OM 48 27,030 18,276 1.0 183

For criticality safety, the cylinder diameter is decreased as the uranium enrichment increases

* The UF6 Manual, USEC-651, Rev. 8, January 1999, page 6

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Most-Used UF6 Cylinder Types

Type 48Y Cylinder48 inch diameter

• Used for natural and depleted uranium• Holds 12,500 kgs of UF6 (8,450 kgs U)

• A 48Y cylinder filled with natural uranium contains 60.1 kgs of 235U.

Type 30B Cylinder30 inch diameter

• LEU is shipped in 30B cylinders in the form of UF6 from enrichment plants to fabrication plants to make reactor fuel.

• Holds 2,270 kgs of UF6 (1,540 kgs U)

• A 30B cylinder filled with 4% enriched

uranium contains 61.6 kgs of 235U.

New 48Y Cylinders 30B Cylinder

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UF6 Cylinder Commerce

• Thirteen countries have enrichment production capabilities or near-capabilities (including Argentina, Brazil, Iran, India, and Pakistan).

• Eight countries (China, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States) provide toll enrichment services and supply enriched UF6 to the commercial nuclear reactor market.

• Enrichment capacity is projected to increase by 20% world-wide in the next 5-10 years, commensurate with reactor construction plans and a shift to higher fuel burn-ups (requiring higher fuel enrichment)

• 90% of the world’s enrichment capacity and civil nuclear commerce exists in the nuclear weapon states; 10% in NNWS.

• Based on current plans, the world share of enrichment capacity in NNWSs will double from 10% to 20%.

• Potential expansion of UF6 conversion in NNWSs (e.g., Kazakhstan)

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UF6 storage yard with cylinders containing depleted uranium tails from the enrichment process

Illustrative Worldwide Cylinder Numbers and Flows

Cylinder Shipments per Year

Type 48Y 9,100 cyl/year (~8,400 kgs U/cyl)

Type 30B 6,600 cyl/year (~1,500 kgs U/cyl)

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UF6 Cylinders and Enrichment

• UF6 is direct feed material to enrichment plants and is used to produce LEU for reactor power fuel; in addition

– UF6 can be enriched to produce HEU for nuclear explosives.

• HEU production requires:

1. An operating enrichment cascade, designed for HEU production or

sufficiently flexible for such, and

2. UF6 feed material.

3. At 90% enrichment one SQ = 27.5 kg Uranium

• The theft or diversion of UF6 will become increasingly attractive to States and perhaps even sub-national groups as the capability to enrich uranium becomes more broadly available.

• The A.Q. Khan network has disseminated centrifuge enrichment information and the barrier to developing enrichment capabilities continues to be lowered.

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Enriching LEU (4.0% 235U) to produce HEU

Product 90% 235U

56.7 kgs

2.04 SQs

3.3 months/SQA 30B Cylinder filled with 1,540 kgs of 4.0% enriched uranium contains

61.6 kgs of 235U

Tails 0.71% NatU

1,483 kgs

Takes four 5A cylinders to hold 56.7 kgs of HEU.

Feed 4%

1,540 kgs

Illustrative 1000 Machine Cascade

Centrifuges/stage

Cas

cad

e st

ages

30B or 48Y Cylinder

30B Cylinder

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Type 5A (5” Diameter) Cylinders are used for HEU• HEU requires containers that have a critically safe geometry• A 5A cylinder holds up to 24.95 kgs of UF6 (16.8 kgs U)

• Isotopic Content Limit: 100% 235U

36”

5”

Gross Weight110 lbs

• One 5A cylinder filled with 90% 235U contains 0.6 SQs of uranium*.

• Two cylinders contain 1.2 SQs

* A significant quantity (SQ) of uranium is the approximate amount of nuclear material in respect of which, taking into account any conversion process involved, the possibility of

manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded.

At 90% enrichment one SQ = 27.5 kg Uranium

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Product 90% 235U

43.4 kgs

1.56 SQs

13.9 months/SQ

Enriching Natural Uranium (0.71% 235U) to Produce HEU

Feed 8,450 kgs

0.71% NatU

Takes three 5A type cylinders to hold43 kgs of HEU

A 48Y Cylinder filled with 8,450 kilograms of natural uranium

contains 60.1 kgs 235U

Tails 8,407 kgs

0.25% Depleted U

0.71% 235U

48YCylinder

48YCylinder

4.0% 235U

48YCylinder

Illustrative Enrichment Cascade

Enrichment TimelineIllustrative Operational Centrifuge Cascade: ~ 1000 machines, ~ 5 SWU/machine/yr

UF6 Cylinder

Type

Uranium

kg

Feed235U %

Cascade

SWU/yr

Product

kg/yr

SQs/yr Months/SQ*

30B 1,540 4.0 5000 100.6 3.62 3.3

48Y 8,452 0.711 5000 24.0 0.86 13.9

Time required to enrich LEU and NatU in filled 30B and 48Y UF6 cylinders

• Filled 30B and 48Y cylinders are IAEA indirect use material.

• Indirect use material consists of 75 kilograms of 235U enriched to < 20%.

• The IAEA detection time for indirect use material is one year.

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UF6 Cylinder IdentificationProblems For Both Operators and Inspectors

Identification Problems– UF6 cylinders do not have unique identifiers– Identification labels are not consistent across manufacturers– Labels are subject to harsh conditions and can be difficult to read– Cylinders often have multiple labels and IDs and can be confusing– Automated methods do not exist to read and identify cylinders– Significant effort is spent locating and verifying cylinders.

Cylinders with multiple IDs and difficult to read labels

UF6 Cylinders - Multiple Labels

* P. Friend, Urenco, D. Lockwood, DOE/NNSA, and D. Hurt, IAEA, “A concept for a world-wide system of identification of UF6 cylinders,” 50th Annual Meeting of the INMM, Tucson, Arizona, July 2009.

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Cylinder Shipments and Timely Reporting

• Shipments from one site to another can take several months and involve a variety of transportation modes and handling of cylinders and overpacks.

– Cylinder shipments typically have few problems but unusual events have occurred.

– In unusual cases, when a shipping problem occurs and nuclear material is involved there is detailed follow up and reporting to regulatory agencies.

• Implementation of a cylinder monitoring system would aid resolution of problems and enhance safeguards (e.g., timeliness of detection) and security oversight (e.g. locations and status of cylinders).

SHIPS DO GO MISSINGLast year the Russian-manned cargo ship had vanished in the Atlantic and was finally located after over a month near Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa, according to French and Russian officials, some 2,000 miles from its intended port.*

*BBC News, Russia Finds Missing Cargo Ship, August 17, 2009

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Solving the UF6 Cylinder Identification Problem

Industry* is proposing formation of an international working group to:

• Develop a global, unique identification (UID) number system for UF6 cylinders

• Develop a method of attaching tamper indicating UID on cylinders

• Develop technology to read cylinders

• Gain international agreement

• Implement UID for existing stocks

• Incorporate UID on newly manufactured cylinders

• Incorporate into ANSI N14.1 and ISO 7195 standards

* P. Friend, Urenco, D. Lockwood, DOE/NNSA, and D. Hurt, IAEA, “A concept for a world-wide system of identification of UF6 cylinders,” 50th Annual Meeting of the INMM, Tucson, Arizona, July 2009.

The industry* proposal is limited to UIDs and does not include considerations necessary for cylinder monitoring

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Identifying UF6 Cylinders

• UIDs that enable electronic identification will reduce time and effort in locating cylinders plus decreasing personnel radiation exposure to the benefit of industry and safeguards personnel.

• A small number of cylinders (< 20,000) will need to be monitored.

– EZPass routinely monitors and automatically deducts charges for millions of cars passing toll points each year.

• A cylinder monitoring system can be slowly implemented and scaled up over time.

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Beyond Cylinder Identification

What is needed to Monitor Cylinders?

1. Each UF6 cylinder will require a unique identifier (UID).

2. Permanently attach the UID with an integral container to each cylinder

– The container would securely hold monitoring electronics.

3. Establish a global cylinder monitoring organization

4. Implement a central registry database of cylinder UIDs

5. Develop robust monitoring and tracking technologies

6. Gain international agreement to implement cylinder monitoring

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Universal Cylinder Identification

Cylinder UIDs will benefit both Industry and Safeguards

– Enable automated location, identification and verification of cylinder labels.

– Safeguard inspections could integrate UIDs into IAEA and State systems to verify shipper/receiver records and correlate cylinders with UF6 content.

– Expanding UIDs to include monitoring capabilities could provide additional cylinder information such as the location, weight, UF6

content, seals status, etc.

Global cylinder monitoring will require implementing universal identification labels and registration of cylinders

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Cylinder Registration and Monitoring Benefits

• Assure positive identification of cylinders and provide timely verification of shipments between shipper and receiver sites;

• Reduce personnel effort and improve safeguards and industrial efficiency by automating inventory taking and transit matching;

• Enhance safeguards effectiveness through more timely detection of diversion and discourage the use of unregistered cylinders to conceal undeclared production of enriched uranium; and

• Augment IAEA State level assessments and support global information analysis in verification of UF6 commerce and cylinder shipments between States.

Reduce the risk of diversion by States and theft by sub national groups.

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Conclusions and Recommendations

Steps to develop and implement a global cylinder monitoring system:

– Participate with industry in an international working group work to define and implement cylinder UIDs that will benefit both industry and safeguards and;

– Gain agreement to fabricate a container on each cylinder to hold a monitoring system;

– Demonstrate reliable monitoring methods to read, locate and track cylinders; and– Work toward implementation of cylinder monitoring.

An effective cylinder monitoring system will require:– Cylinder UID’s with a monitoring container that is tamper indicating; – A cylinder UID registration database;– A global cylinder monitoring organization;– Robust monitoring technology to track and provide cylinder information– Encryption and other protection to preclude hacking and unauthorized access of the

monitoring system; and– Analysis capabilities to verify cylinder locations, shipments and to identify

anomalies for inspection follow-up.

Seeking Industry Advice and Approaches to the Implementation of Cylinder Monitoring

Questions

• What are the perceptions and concerns of the UF6 industry on the impact to operations?

• How might cylinder monitoring benefit industry?

• What are implications of UIDs, cylinder registry, and tracking cylinders for users of NMMSS?

• Other?

End

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What is Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6)?

• A white crystalline solid at room temperature.

• UF6 is stored and transported in solid form.

• UF6 sublimes (converts from a solid to a gas) at operating pressures below about 21.9 psia (1.48 atm)

• UF6 gas is feed material to uranium enrichment plants and to conversion/ fuel fabrication plants, and is used at over 40 commercial nuclear sites world-wide.

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Table B.3. Number of UF6 cylinders to support nuclear fuel requirements by countrya

Nuclear reactors Conversion

facilities Enrichment facilities

Fuel

fabrication

Country

MWe MTU NatU

MT RGU

Number 48Y feed cylinders

SWU/ year

Number 48Y feed cylinders

Number 48Y tails cylinders

Number 30B

product cylinders

Number 30B

product cylinders

Belgium 5,728 1,011 133 0 0 0 0 0 487

Canada 12,652 1,665 219 1,479 0 0 0 0 0

China 8,587 1,396 184 178 1,200 203 176 147 260

France 63,473 10,527 1,387 1,953 10,800 1,824 1584 1318 532

Germany 20,339 3,332 439 0 1,800 304 264 219 422

Japan 46,236 7,569 997 0 1,050 177 154 128 1,087

Netherlands 485 0 0 3,600 608 528 440 0

Russia 21,743 3,365 443 2,213 20,000 3,378 2933 2442 1,312

UK 11,035 2,199 290 710 4,200 709 616 513 214

U.S. 100,845 18,918 2,492 1,657 11,300 1,909 1657 1379 2,532

South Korea 17,716 3,109 409 0 0 0 0 260

Spain 7,448 1,398 184 0 0 0 0 195

Sweden 9,016 1,418 187 0 0 0 0 390

Ukraine 13,168 1,914 252 0 0 0 0 0

Kazakhstan 0 0 0 1,299

Othersb 33,941 6,794 895 0 0 0 0

Total 371,927 64,615 8,511 8,189 53,950 9,113 7,912 6586 8,990

Note: Enrichment plants in NWSs are highlighted in bold.

a World fuel fabrication capacity is only 75% utilized and is estimated to have a capacity to process 8,900 30B cylinders filled with RGU. Enrichment output is lower and estimated to provide 6,586 product cylinders per year.

b Argentina (1005 MWe), Armenia (408 MWe), Brazil (1966 MWe), Bulgaria (3760 MWe), Czech Republic (1760 MWe), Finland (2400 MWe), Hungary (1840 MWe), India (3180 MWe), Lithuania (3000 MWe), Mexico (1350 MWe), Pakistan (462 MWe), Romania (708 MWe), Slovakia (2580 MWe), Slovenia (664 MWe), South Africa (1930 MWe), Switzerland (3200 MWe), Taiwan (5146 MWe).

UF6 CylindersShipments per year

by Country and Facility

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Table B.1. Current global enrichment plant capacity

Country Plant name/location Owner/Operator Plant type Operational status Capacity

(SWU/year)

Argentina Pilcaniyeu CNEA Gaseous diffusion Standby

20,000 SWU/year 0

Brazil Aramar Brazilian Navy,

CNEN Centrifuge Operating 9,000

Brazil Resende INB Centrifuge Operating/under

construction 120,000

China Heping CNNC Gaseous diffusion Operating 200,000

China Lanzhou CNNC Centrifuge Operating 500,000

China Shaanxi, Hanzhong CNNC Centrifuge Operating 500,000

France Georges Besse I,

Tricastin Eurodif Gaseous diffusion Operating 10,800,000

Germany Gronau Urenco Centrifuge Operating 1,800,000

India BARC, Trombay DAE Centrifuge Operating pilot plant 0

India Rattehalli Rare

Materials Plant, Mysore

IREL/DAE Centrifuge Operating

4,000–10,000 SWU/year

10,000

Iran Natanz PFEP AEOI Centrifuge Operating (pilot) 0

Iran Natanz FEP AEOI Centrifuge Operating/under

construction 250,000

Japan Rokkasho JNFL Centrifuge Operating 1,050,000

Netherlands Almelo Urenco Centrifuge Operating 3,600,000

Pakistan KRL Kahuta PAEC Centrifuge Operating

15,000–20,000 SWU/year

20,000

Russia Urals ElectroChemical

Combine, Novouralsk

Rosatom Centrifuge Operating 9,800,000

Russia Siberian Chemical

Combine, Seversk Rosatom Centrifuge Operating 2,800,000

Russia Zelenogorsk

ElectroChemical Plant

Rosatom Centrifuge Operating 5,800,000

Russia Angarsk

ElectroChemical Combine

Rosatom Centrifuge Operating 1,600,000

United Kingdom Capenhurst Urenco Centrifuge Operating 4,200,000

United States Paducah USEC Gaseous diffusion Operating 11,300,000

United States Portsmouth USEC Gaseous diffusion Standby

7,400,000 SWU/year 0

Global Enrichment Plants and

SWU capacity