The Department of Energy plans to delay the shipment of liquids containing highly enriched uranium from Canadian research reactors to the Savannah River Site.
The DOE's 2015 budget request released last week indicated the shipments will not begin until September of 2015, which is two years later than the original schedule. The Ottawa Citizen reported that the agency did not cite a reason for the delay, but it noted U.S. and Canadian regulators continue to review the containers that will move the waste created by past medical isotope production at Ontario's Chalk River laboratory.
Under a non-proliferation program known as the Enriched Uranium Disposition Mission that began in 2006, SRS agreed to downblend fuel from research reactors in the U.S. and abroad at its H-Canyon facility, according to the DOE. Once processed, the material will no longer be suitable for use in a weapon and can be used in commercial reactor fuel.
Under agreements reached in 2010 and 2012 that are part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, Canada plans to fund the transport of 23,000 liters of liquid waste to the site. By the Citizen's estimates, it contains 161 kilograms of HEU and would be spread out over at least 179 shipments.