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Megatons To Megawatts: Russian Warheads Fuel U.S. Power Plants : NPR
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| Last Shipment arrives in Baltimore |
Soviet-era nuclear warheads provide 10 percent of US electricity | The Verge
For the past 20 years, bomb-grade uranium from Russia's decommissioned nuclear weapons have provided 10 percent of all the electricity the US consumes. That fact, NPR reports, is the result of a deal made after the fall of the Soviet Union, which allowed for "20,000 bombs' worth of nuclear material" to be repurposed for American power needs.
Five hundred tons of weapons-grade uranium translates into about 20,000 nuclear warheads. Now this sword at least has been successfully beaten into plowshares. From now on, America is to receive Soviet uranium through a private company, the US Enrichment Corporation, and at market prices.
Current market price of uranium is about $50 per pound, although it ran up to a peak of almost $140 in 2008, as shown in the chart below.
Military Warheads as a Source of Nuclear Fuel | Megatons to MegaWatts
Since 1987 the United States and countries of the former USSR have signed a series of disarmament treaties to reduce the nuclear arsenals by about 80%.
'Russian Megatons to Megawatts' now costlier for the US - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video
Five hundred tons of weapons-grade uranium translates into about 20,000 nuclear warheads. Now this sword at least has been successfully beaten into plowshares. From now on, America is to receive Soviet uranium through a private company, the US Enrichment Corporation, and at market prices.
Current market price of uranium is about $50 per pound, although it ran up to a peak of almost $140 in 2008, as shown in the chart below.
Military Warheads as a Source of Nuclear Fuel | Megatons to MegaWatts
- Weapons-grade uranium and plutonium surplus to military requirements in the USA and Russia is being made available for use as civil fuel.
- Weapons-grade uranium is highly enriched, to over 90% U-235 (the fissile isotope). Weapons-grade plutonium has over 93% Pu-239 and can be used, like reactor-grade plutonium, in fuel for electricity production.
- Highly-enriched uranium from weapons stockpiles has been displacing some 9720 tonnes of U3O8 production from mines each year, and meets about 13% of world reactor requirements through to 2013.
Since 1987 the United States and countries of the former USSR have signed a series of disarmament treaties to reduce the nuclear arsenals by about 80%.
'Russian Megatons to Megawatts' now costlier for the US - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video
In 1994, a US $13 billion implementing contract was signed between the US
Enrichment Corporation (now USEC Inc) and Russia's Technabexport
(Tenex) as executive agents for the US and Russian governments. USEC
purchased 500 tonnes of weapons-grade HEU over 20 years to 2013, at a
rate of up to 30 tonnes/year from 1999. The HEU was progressively
blended down to 15,259 t of LEU at 4.4% U-235 in Russia, using 1.5%
U-235 (re-enriched depleted uranium tails), to restrict levels of U-234
in the final product.* USEC then sold the LEU to its utility customers
as fuel. The LEU is equivalent to about 140,000 tonnes of natural
uranium from mines (depending on assumptions about enrichment), or 9720
to 10,980 t/yr of U3O8.
The outgoing week marked the end of a 20-year program in which the US Department of Energy paid $17 billion to procure 500 tons of Russia's Soviet-era weapons-grade uranium to convert it into 15,259 tons of LEU fuel for American nuclear power plants. The closing shipment on the program arrived in Baltimore Tuesday and was put into a storage facility from which it will be sold off to power-generating companies. [The average cost per LEU pound over 20 years was thus $557, or $60/pound of equivalent natural Uranium from mines]
The outgoing week marked the end of a 20-year program in which the US Department of Energy paid $17 billion to procure 500 tons of Russia's Soviet-era weapons-grade uranium to convert it into 15,259 tons of LEU fuel for American nuclear power plants. The closing shipment on the program arrived in Baltimore Tuesday and was put into a storage facility from which it will be sold off to power-generating companies. [The average cost per LEU pound over 20 years was thus $557, or $60/pound of equivalent natural Uranium from mines]
As
a result of the 1993 deal, Russia, which was badly strapped for cash in
the 1990s, got funds to further its nuclear energy plans, and the US,
plentiful electricity. Seven trillion kilowatt-hours have been
generated. At times, as much as 45% of the fuel in America's reactors
came from decommissioned Russian warheads. This compares with only 5%
coming from decommissioned American bombs.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_15/Russian-Megatons-to-Megawatts-now-costlier-for-the-US-8166/
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| Monthly Uranium Spot Price |
Uranium Oxide Price 34.75 USD/lb (76,611 USD/t | 55,686 EUR/t) 09 Dec 2013 - 52 Week Low 34.00 USD/lb 52 Week High 44.75 USD/lb
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