Introduction

Material Disposition — In 1994 the United States declared 174 metric tons of highly enriched uranium as surplus to national security needs. The Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Disposition Program Office at Y‑12 provides technical support, program planning and implementation of the down blending of surplus HEU for the National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Fissile Materials Disposition.

Some surplus highly enriched uranium planned for commercial disposition is unirradiated uranium that has not yet been allocated to one of the existing disposition projects.

Because of the various forms of HEU, the availability schedule for weapons dismantlement and site cleanup and potential market impacts, disposition is taking place over an extended period. Some material has been transferred to the United States Enrichment Corporation, and some is being transferred to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for use in reactors. TVA will share its fuel savings with the U.S. Treasury. DOE is preparing detailed plans for the disposal of the remaining surplus HEU.

A substantial quantity of the HEU has already been converted to low-enriched uranium reactor fuel. The remainder will be converted by about 2015.