The U.S. Department of Energy – National Nuclear Security Administration – has filed an export license request with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to export “highly enriched uranium” (bomb-grade uranium) to Europe. The HEU would be used for medical isotope production.
The export license application states the export by NNSA would consist of “4.455 kg uranium-235 contained in a maximum of 4.772 kg uranium, enriched to maximum of93.35%, in the form of unalloyed broken metal.”
July 31, 2019 export license application linked here
When will the European reactors fully convert away from use of HEU and what is DOE doing to push such conversion along? For nuclear non-proliferation reasons, it’s time to stop all use of bomb-grade uranium for medical isotope production.
UPDATE of October 4, 2019:
Petition of Dr. Alan Kuperman, September 19, 2019 raising concerns about the HEU export: https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML19262G478
Response of the Institute for Radioelements {IRE), 26 September 26 2019, justifying the export and saying it will be the last: https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML19277E121