Joint U.S., Soviet Recycling Program of Weapons-grade Uranium

USEC Inc., a global energy company and provider of enriched uranium fuel and nuclear industry-related services for commercial nuclear power plants, announced it has completed by 90 per cent the conversion of weapons-grade uranium from dismantled former Soviet Union nuclear warheads into low enriched uranium fuel under the program called Megatons to Megawatts(TM).

Megatons to Megawatts(TM) is a 20-year, commercially financed government-industry partnership in which 500 metric tonnes of Russian weapons-grade uranium is transformed to low enriched uranium for use as commercial reactor fuel. USEC, as executive agent for the U.S. government, and JSC "Techsnabexport" (TENEX), for the Russian government, implement the programme.

Its main focus was to convert the equivalent of 20,000 nuclear warheads into nuclear fuel by end 2013. So far, the fuel generated from the conversion equals more than 193 billion gallons of gasoline, corresponding to more than 17 months of U.S. consumption

In past years, this type of fuel has helped generate 10 per cent of the United States' electricity needs.

"For nearly two decades, the Megatons to Megawatts(TM) program has provided a reliable source of fuel for commercial nuclear power plants while reducing the quantities of weapons-grade uranium remaining in the world," John K. Welch, USEC president and CEO, said in a statement.

"As we near the end of this historic nonproliferation program, USEC is preparing to transition to our new contract with TENEX, which will continue to provide a reliable supply of LEU for the company while we work to deploy the American Centrifuge technology."