Core concerns

Highly enriched uranium is the perfect fuel for research reactors. And the same scientific specifications make it ideal for building a simple atom bomb like the one that destroyed Hiroshima.

For terrorists, a key issue is acquiring enough HEU to build a bomb. Recent reports warn that time is running out to gather this material, located in 345 civilian reactors in more than 58 countries.

Most HEU is controlled by national armed forces. But about 20 tons is in civilian hands, fueling reactors, medicine, and industry. (Ten to 20 kilograms is needed to build an atomic bomb.)

Around 1986, the United States began to gather up HEU and promote the conversion of research reactors to low-enriched uranium (LEU), which can't be easily used in a bomb.

Alan Kuperman, a policy analyst with the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington, says the US program, called the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors, is "one of the unsung heroes" of nuclear nonproliferation efforts. It is run by the Department of Energy for about $5 million annually.

A few years later, the International Atomic Energy Agency got on board. At least 34 of 71 reactors in 19 countries were converted, says Mr. Glaser. Yet that work is being threatened. "If Germany operates a new reactor with HEU fuel, South Africa refuses to convert its reactor to available LEU fuel.... [A] resurgence of HEU commerce could soon follow," Kuperman wrote in a January report.

Part of the problem, he and Glaser say, is that the Germans are able to justify using the HEU by charging that the US is dragging its feet on converting six university reactors "in process" (see list) and pointing to research reactors at MIT and at the University of Missouri at Columbia that have no plans to convert.

The director of the MIT reactor, John Bernard, says he is happy to oversee a conversion to LEU fuel once a blend usable in the reactor is available. "We'll be doing that as soon as possible," he says.

• E-mail claytonm@csps.com

University reactors use two basic kinds of fuel: HEU (weapons-grade highly enriched uranium) and LEU (non-bomb-grade low- enriched uranium). Some have converted from HEU to LEU.

Uses HEU fuel – because suitable low-enriched uranium (LEU) is unavailable:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

University of Missouri, Columbia

Uses HEU fuel – conversion in process from HEU to LEU:

Oregon State University

Purdue University

Texas A&M University

University of Florida

University of Wisconsin

Washington State University

Uses LEU fuel – conversion complete:

Ohio State University

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

University of Massachusetts, Lowell

University of Michigan (being shut down)

University of Missouri, Rolla

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Always has been an LEU reactor:

Cornell University (being shut down)

Idaho State University

Kansas State University

North Carolina State University

Pennsylvania State University

Reed College

University of Arizona

University of California, Irvine

University of Maryland

University of New Mexico

University of Texas, Austin

University of Utah

Source: US Department of Energy RERTR program

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5