Int’l Uranium develops new feed program at White Mesa mill

Vancouver — International Uranium (IUC-V) and privately owned Nuclear Fuel Services of Tennessee have formed a 50-50 joint-venture company in order to develop a new feed program for the former’s White Mesa mill in Utah.

At a plant in Erwin, Tenn., the new company, Urizon Recovery Systems, will blend contaminated low-enriched uranium with depleted uranium to produce a natural uranium ore. This material will then be further processed at the White Mesa mill to produce conventional yellowcake.

Yellowcake, or U3O8, is the product of the uranium milling process. The material is a mixture of uranium oxides that can vary in proportion and in colour. The fine powder is packaged in drums and sent to a conversion plant that produces uranium hexafluoride (UF6) as the next step in the manufacture of nuclear fuel.

Yellowcake

The new system is expected to produce 2-3 million lbs. yellowcake per year over at least six years.

“Blending low-enriched uranium with depleted uranium to make a reconstituted natural uranium ore that can be returned to the nuclear fuel cycle as yellowcake has never been accomplished before,” says Ron Hochstein, president of International Uranium. “This program will allow the Department of Energy [DOE] to deal with its ‘orphaned’ low-enriched uranium and depleted uranium in a cost-effective manner while providing for the recovery of valuable energy resources that would be lost through direct disposal of the materials, and, at the same time, providing a long-term source of alternative feed materials for the White Mesa mill.”

The primary source of feed for Urizon will be orphaned nuclear materials that require additional processing in order to meet commercial fuel cycle specifications. Orphan nuclear materials include the man-made neutron sources that are used extensively in defence projects, industries, universities, and research organizations. It is estimated that there are several hundred thousand such sources now in use within the U.S., and about 3,000 are being produced and distributed annually.

“We think the process is capable of recycling thousands of metric tons of orphan materials within the Department of Energy complex,” says Stephen Schutt, vice-president of technology and commercialization for Nuclear Fuel Services.

A preliminary report by the DOE in 2000 stated there were 4,700 tonnes of contained surplus low-enriched uranium at 28 sites across the DOE complex, which would yield 15 million lbs. yellowcake, as well as other sources of materials suitable for the program.

Nuclear Fuel Services is a leader in the process development and production of specialty nuclear fuels for commercial power, research reactors and naval reactors. The company supplies highly enriched uranium fuel materials to the U.S. Navy’s fleet of nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. It has also developed and implemented the process for recycling highly enriched uranium material into lower commercial enrichments. This process supports the U.S government’s program for ‘down-blending’ surplus material from the weapons program into fuel for nuclear power reactors.

Approvals sought

International Uranium is seeking approvals from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies. Once they’re received, construction of a pilot plant will begin. This would eventually be converted into a commercial facility.

International Uranium and Nuclear Fuel Services are asking the DOE to finance the cost of designing the pilot plant, among other costs. Application testing has been funded by DOE for the past two years.

Based in Denver, Colo., International Uranium processes uranium-bearing materials to recover the uranium and other metals as an environmentally superior alternative to the direct disposal of these materials. The company also holds several dormant uranium mines and exploration properties in the U.S. and Mongolia.

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