United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1994-03-25 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:RCED-94-119 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-119 P0b002ee180396e78 f:rc94119 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-119 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-119 RCED-94-119 Nuclear proliferation Nuclear fuel plants Treaties Nuclear energy Nuclear reactors Uranium Nuclear waste storage Nuclear waste management Nuclear fuel reprocessing Energy research DOE Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program DOE Off-Site Fuels Policy Belgium Germany DOE Foreign Research Reactor Spent Fuel Acceptance Policy Netherlands European Community Russia United Kingdom Dounreay (Scotland) Japan Canada Letter Report RCED A key nonproliferation goal of the United States is to discourage the use of highly enriched uranium, a material that can be used to make nuclear bombs, in civilian nuclear programs worldwide. Research reactors are of particular concern because the major civilian use of highly enriched uranium is as fuel in these reactors. U.S. officials question the safety of spent highly enriched uranium fuel left in interim storage at reactor sites worldwide and, for security reasons, would prefer that this spent fuel be consolidated and stored permanently in the United States. Under its Off-Site Fuel Policy, the Energy Department (DOE) has since 1968 been taking back the spent fuel, reprocessing it, and storing the resulting waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. But DOE stopped this practice in the late 1980s, arguing that the fuels policy could not be renewed until environmental studies were done. No spent fuel of U.S. origin has been taken back since the fuels policy expired, despite warning from operators of foreign research reactors that they were facing fuel storage problems. This report provides information on (1) the effects of delays in renewing the Off-Site Fuels Policy on U.S. nonproliferation goals and programs--specifically, the reduced enrichment program, (2) DOE's efforts to renew the fuels policy, and (3) the price to be charged to the operators of foreign reactors for DOE's activities in taking back the spent fuel. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-119/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-119.htm GAO/RCED-94-119 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-119 Letter Report GAO/RCED-94-119; Nuclear Nonproliferation: Concerns With U.S. Delays in Accepting Foreign Research Reactors' Spent Fuel; Nuclear proliferation Nuclear fuel plants Treaties Nuclear energy Nuclear reactors Uranium Nuclear waste storage Nuclear waste management Nuclear fuel reprocessing Energy research DOE Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program DOE Off-Site Fuels Policy Belgium Germany DOE Foreign Research Reactor Spent Fuel Acceptance Policy Netherlands European Community Russia United Kingdom Dounreay (Scotland) Japan Canada