U.S. planning test reactor to run on weapons-grade uranium
Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 16:53
in Physics & Chemistry
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is planning a small test reactor that would burn a large amount of weapons-grade uranium, according to the project’s draft environmental assessment . The experiment, to be built in a cost-sharing arrangement, would provide data for a new type of power reactor being developed by TerraPower and Southern Company Services. But the use of highly enriched uranium, first reported by Physics Today , would contravene the U.S. policy of removing HEU from civilian reactors around the world to keep it from being made into bombs. The decision is “discouraging,” says Edwin Lyman, a physicist and director for nuclear...