Notice2025-14017
Highly Enriched Uranium Blend Down to High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium, at the Savannah River Site
Primary source
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Published
July 25, 2025
Issuing agencies
Energy Department
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is amending its August 5, 1996, Record of Decision (ROD) for the Disposition of Surplus Highly Enriched Uranium Final Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0240) (hereafter referred to as the HEU EIS), and its April 19, 2022, Amended ROD for the Savannah River Site Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0279) (hereafter referred to as the SRS SNF EIS). DOE now amends its previous decisions and will blend down approximately 2.2 metric tons (MT) of highly enriched uranium (HEU) to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) at H-Area at the Savannah River Site (SRS). DOE anticipates this activity would begin as early as 2025 and continue approximately 2 to 4 years consistent with program and policy priorities, and funding. DOE will transport the HALEU liquid to an offsite commercial vendor for fabrication into reactor fuel for use in nuclear reactors. Because the 2.2 MT of HEU will be blended down for use in reactor fuel, it will not be sent to the SRS liquid high-level waste (HLW) management system for disposal as described in the Amended ROD for the SRS SNF EIS.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 141 (Friday, July 25, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 141 (Friday, July 25, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35292-35294]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14017]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Highly Enriched Uranium Blend Down to High-Assay Low-Enriched
Uranium, at the Savannah River Site
AGENCY: Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy.
ACTION: Amended record of decision.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is amending its August 5,
1996, Record of Decision (ROD) for the Disposition of Surplus Highly
Enriched Uranium Final Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0240)
(hereafter referred to as the HEU EIS), and its April 19, 2022, Amended
ROD for the Savannah River Site Spent Nuclear Fuel Management
Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0279) (hereafter referred to as
the SRS SNF EIS). DOE now amends its previous decisions and will blend
down approximately 2.2 metric tons (MT) of highly enriched uranium
(HEU) to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) at H-Area at
the Savannah River Site (SRS). DOE anticipates this activity would
begin as early as 2025 and continue approximately 2 to 4 years
consistent with program and policy priorities, and funding. DOE will
transport the HALEU liquid to an offsite commercial vendor for
fabrication into reactor fuel for use in nuclear reactors. Because the
2.2 MT of HEU will be blended down for use in reactor fuel, it will not
be sent to the
[[Page 35293]]
SRS liquid high-level waste (HLW) management system for disposal as
described in the Amended ROD for the SRS SNF EIS.
ADDRESSES: This Amended ROD, the HEU EIS, the SRS SNF EIS, and related
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents are available on the
DOE NEPA website at <a href="http://www.energy.gov/nepa/nepa-documents">www.energy.gov/nepa/nepa-documents</a> and the SRS NEPA
website at <a href="http://www.srs.gov/general/pubs/envbul/nepa1.htm">www.srs.gov/general/pubs/envbul/nepa1.htm</a>. To request copies
of these documents, please contact Mr. Jeffrey Bentley by mail: NEPA
Document Manager, Savannah River Operations Office, U.S. Department of
Energy, P.O. Box B, Aiken, South Carolina 29802; by telephone: (803)
226-5113; or by email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1b717e7d7d697e6235797e756f777e625b686968357c746d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a1cbc4c7c7d3c4d88fc3c4cfd5cdc4d8e1d2d3d28fc6ced7">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on HEU blend
down to HALEU at SRS, please contact Mr. Jeffrey Bentley as listed
above. For information on DOE's NEPA process, please contact Mr.
William Ostrum by mail: NEPA Compliance Officer, U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of Environmental Management, 1000 Independence Avenue
SW, EM-4.13, Washington, DC 20585; by telephone: (202) 586-2513; or by
email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#94e3fdf8f8fdf5f9bafbe7e0e6e1f9d4fce5baf0fbf1baf3fbe2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9aedf3f6f6f3fbf7b4f5e9eee8eff7daf2ebb4fef5ffb4fdf5ec">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
DOE's purpose and need for action, as described in the HEU EIS
(DOE/EIS-0240), is as follows:
The Department of Energy proposes to blend down surplus HEU \1\
from the weapons program to LEU \2\ to eliminate the risk of
diversion for nuclear proliferation purposes and, where practical,
to reuse the resulting LEU in peaceful, beneficial ways that recover
its commercial value. The purpose of the proposed action is to
reduce the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation worldwide in an
environmentally safe manner by reducing stockpiles of weapons-usable
fissile materials, setting a nonproliferation example for other
nations, and allowing peaceful, beneficial reuse of the material to
the extent practical.
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\1\ HEU = highly enriched uranium. Highly enriched uranium
contains 20 or more weight percent uranium-235 (U-235) (the primary
fissile isotope of uranium that supplies power during a nuclear
chain reaction).
\2\ LEU = low-enriched uranium. Low enriched uranium contains
less than 20 weight percent U-235. In the HEU EIS, DOE proposed to
blend down HEU to LEU containing approximately 4 weight percent U-
235.
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Comprehensive disposition actions are needed to ensure that
surplus HEU is converted to proliferation-resistant forms consistent
with the objectives of the President's nonproliferation policy.
These proposed actions would essentially eliminate the potential for
reuse of the material in nuclear weapons and would demonstrate the
U.S. commitment to dispose of surplus HEU and encourage other
nations to take similar actions toward reducing stockpiles of
surplus HEU. The proposed actions would begin to reduce DOE's HEU
inventory and costs associated with storage, accountability, and
security rather than depending upon indefinite storage of all such
material.
In the HEU EIS, DOE proposed to blend down surplus HEU from the
weapons program to 4 weight percent U-235 LEU to eliminate the risk of
diversion for nuclear proliferation purposes and, where practical, to
reuse the resulting LEU in peaceful, beneficial ways that recover its
commercial value. The HEU EIS assessed the disposition of a nominal 200
MT of surplus HEU. Material that could not be economically recovered
would be blended to 0.9 weight percent U-235 for disposal as low-level
radioactive waste (LLW).
The HEU EIS analyzed four alternatives that represented different
proportions of the resulting LEU being used in commercial reactor fuel
or disposed of as LLW. The Preferred Alternative was Alternative 5, the
Maximum Commercial Use Alternative, which represented blending about 85
percent of the material to 4 weight percent U-235 LEU for use in
nuclear reactor fuel (170 MT) and about 15 percent (30 MT) of the
material to 0.9 weight percent U-235 for disposal as LLW. The HEU EIS
analyzed the blending of HEU using three different processes at four
potential sites including SRS. Three blending technologies were
analyzed including uranyl nitrate hexahydrate (UNH) blending at SRS.
The transportation of UNH was also analyzed. DOE issued the Final HEU
EIS in June 1996 and issued a ROD on August 5, 1996 (61 FR 40619),
selecting the Preferred Alternative, which was also the environmentally
preferrable alternative.
Between 2003 and 2011, the H-Area facilities at SRS blended down
14.9 MT of HEU to produce 301 MT of 4.95 weight percent uranium-235
LEU. The LEU was sent to commercial facilities for fabrication into
reactor fuel and was subsequently used in Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) reactors to produce electricity.
HALEU \3\ fuels are being developed to support the replacement of
HEU fuels used in U.S. High-Performance Research Reactors as well as
for use in advanced nuclear power reactor designs. The projected demand
for HALEU far exceeds the current supply. The current inventory of HEU
solution in storage in H-Area can be blended down to HALEU, which could
help satisfy the short-term nation's needs until other commercial
initiatives can begin HALEU production. Facilities for production of
LEU in H-Area can be readily transitioned to HALEU production.
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\3\ HALEU is LEU enriched in U-235 to between 5 weight percent
and less than 20 weight percent.
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The DOE regulations for compliance with NEPA, 10 CFR 1021.314(c),
direct that, ``[w]hen it is unclear whether or not an EIS supplement is
required, DOE shall prepare a Supplement Analysis'' to assist in making
that determination. In accordance with the DOE NEPA regulations, DOE
prepared the Supplement Analysis for Highly Enriched Uranium Blend Down
to High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium at the Savannah River Site
(hereafter referred to as the SRS HALEU SA) (DOE/EIS-0240-SA-02 and
DOE/EIS-0279-SA-08, 2024). Based on the SRS HALEU SA, DOE determined
that a supplemental or new EIS is not required.
Because the Proposed Action activities would be a small subset of
HEU blend down activities evaluated in the HEU EIS, the potential
environmental consequences of the Proposed Action would be similar to,
or less than, those evaluated in the HEU EIS. In the SRS HALEU SA,
these effects were determined to be small, and would not result in
releases to the environment, or radiation doses or risks to members of
the public or workers that would be substantially larger than those
evaluated in the HEU EIS.
Because this HEU will be blended down for use in reactor fuel, it
will not be sent to the SRS liquid HLW management system for disposal
as described in the 2022 Amended ROD (87 FR 23504) for the SRS SNF EIS.
Therefore, the environmental effects will be less than those described
in the Supplement Analysis for the Spent Nuclear Fuel Accelerated Basin
De-inventory Mission for H-Canyon at the Savannah River Site (DOE/EIS-
0279-SA-07, 2022).
DOE concluded in the SRS HALEU SA that the proposed change and new
information is not a substantial change relative to the proposal
analyzed in the HEU EIS and the SRS SNF EIS, and thus, that no further
NEPA documentation is required.
Amended Decision
DOE has decided to implement the Proposed Action as described in
the SRS HALEU SA. DOE will not send the 2.2 MT of HEU (as uranyl
nitrate liquid) to the SRS liquid HLW management system for disposal
and instead will blend the HEU with natural uranium (as uranyl nitrate
liquid) to produce HALEU (as uranyl nitrate liquid) at H-
[[Page 35294]]
Area at SRS. DOE anticipates this activity would begin as early as 2025
and continue approximately 2 to 4 years, consistent with program and
policy priorities, and funding. DOE will transport the HALEU liquid to
an offsite commercial vendor for fabrication into reactor fuel for use
in nuclear reactors.
In the ROD for the HEU EIS (61 FR 40619; August 5, 1996), DOE
identified the Preferred Alternative as the environmentally preferable
alternative; this has not changed. No environmental effects resulting
from operations under this amended decision would require specific
mitigation measures. DOE will continue its current practices and
policies and has adopted all practicable means to avoid or minimize
environmental harm, including effects to workers when implementing the
actions described herein. For example, DOE will continue to evaluate
and implement, as appropriate, physical modifications to the H-Area
facilities and administrative practices, that would reduce personnel
exposure, facility effluents, and waste generation.
Basis for Decision
The blending down of 2.2 MT of HEU to HALEU as described in the SRS
HALEU SA (DOE/EIS-0240-SA-02, 2024) and this amendment to DOE's HEU EIS
ROD (61 FR 40619) and SRS SNF EIS Amended ROD (87 FR 23504), takes
advantage of existing processes in existing facilities. As described in
the SRS HALEU SA, the activities encompassed by this amended decision
will not incur potential health or environmental effects substantially
different from those analyzed in existing NEPA reviews. Further, the
actions resulting from this Amended ROD, would help satisfy the
nation's short-term needs for HALEU until other commercial initiatives
can begin production.
Signing Authority
This document of DOE was signed on April 18, 2025, by Roger A.
Jarrell II, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Office of
Environmental Management, pursuant to delegated authority from the
Secretary of Energy. That document with the original signature and date
is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in
compliance with the requirements of the Office of the Federal Register,
the undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been
authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic format for
publication, as an official document of DOE. The administrative process
in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in
the Federal Register.
Signed in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2025.
Jennifer Hartzell,
Alternate Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2025-14017 Filed 7-24-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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