Depleted Uranium in Repositories

For uranium to be useful in most fission nuclear reactors, it must be enriched (i.e. the concentration of the fissile isotope 235U must be increased). Therefore, depleted uranium (DU)-uranium which has less than naturally occurring concentrations of 235U-is a co-product of the enrichment process. Four to six tons of DU exist for every ton of fresh light water reactor fuel. There were 407,006 MgU 407,000 metric tons (t) of DU stored on U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites as of July 1993. If this DU were to be declared surplus, converted to a stable oxide form, and emplaced in a near surface disposal facility, the costs are estimated to be several billion dollars. However, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has stated that near surface disposal of large quantities of DU tails is not appropriate. Thus, there is the possibility that disposition via disposal will be in a deep geological repository. One alternative that may significantly reduce the cost of DU disposition is to use it beneficially. In fact, DOE has begun the Beneficial Uses of DU Project to identify large scale uses of DU and to encourage its reuse. Several beneficial uses, many of which involve applications in the repositorymore » per se or in managing the wastes to go into the repository, are discussed in this report.« less