The Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) Program was initiated by the United States Department of Energy in 1978 with the mission of developing the technologies necessary to convert research and test reactors from the use of fuels containing highly-enriched uranium (HEU) to the use of fuels containing low-enriched uranium (LEU). The overall objective of the program was to reduce international commerce in weapons grade uranium.[1]

In 1978,  a similar program was started in the Soviet Union with the goal of reducing the enrichment level of research reactor fuels. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union also changed its policies regarding the export of fuel for Soviet-built research reactors abroad, thenceforth supplying them with 36% HEU in lieu of 90% HEU. However, activities to reduce enrichment levels were hampered in the late 1980s by the economic and political problems within Russia. At the same time, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, contacts with foreign experts and the exchange of information on these issues increased. Since 1993 Russian scientists have been participating in International RERTR meetings.[2]

In September 1994, representatives of the US Department of Energy and Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy signed a protocol of intent to reduce fuel enrichment in civilian research and test reactors. These efforts go in two directions: 1) development of higher-density 19.75% enriched uranium fuels and 2) demonstration of feasibility of and conversion to LEU fuel of specific reactors. The main Russian organizations involved in this effort are the Scientific Research and Design Institute of Energy Technologies (NIKIET), the Institute for Inorganic Materials (VNIINM), the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant (NZKhK), and the Kurchatov Institute. Scientists from these organizations conduct studies to determine the technical and economic feasibility of converting Russian-supplied research and test reactors to use LEU fuels. An important part of this effort is the development of computer models to interpret and predict the behavior of various fuels that might be irradiated in Russian-designed reactors. These models are being developed through a joint effort between Argonne National Laboratory and VNIINM scientists.[3]

The 2000 RERTR program status report presented by the Argonne National Laboratory at the October 2000 International RERTR Meeting in Las Vegas noted progress on the irradiation testing of LEU UO₂ dispersion fuel and on LEU conversion feasibility studies in the Russian RERTR program. Studies have been conducted to investigate the feasibility of converting the following reactors to the use of LEU U-Mo fuels: the VVR-M reactor at the St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, the IR-8 reactor at the Kurchatov Institute, the VVR-SM research reactor in Uzbekistan, and the MARIA reactor in Swierk, Poland. [4]
 
The Russian RERTR program subsequently became involved in a take-back program with funding from the United States, under which Russia takes back spent fuel from reactor operators if the operators agree to convert to LEU.  The take-back effort is being organized on a trilateral basis by Russia, the United States, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, with funding from the United States. In March 2002 Uzbekistan and Russia agreed on the first major take-back of HEU.[5] Ten kilograms of uranium were repatriated to Russia from that country in September 2004, with funding from the DOE.  In an operation mainly funded by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, 48kg of Soviet-origin HEU fuel were returned from Serbia to Russia in August 2002.  Two other shipments of repatriated HEU, funded by the United States, have been made from Romania (September 2003, 14kg) and Bulgaria (December 2003, 17 kg).[6,7]  The take-back program has been subsumed under the larger Global Threat Reduction Initiative, initiated in the summer of 2004 to identify, secure, recover and/or facilitate the disposition of vulnerable nuclear materials around the globe.[6]
 
Sources:
[1] "Reduced Enrichment Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) Program," Argonne National Laboratory Technology Development Division Web Site, http://www.td.anl.gov/Programs/RERTR/RERTR-text.html. 
[2] N. Arkhangelsky, "Twenty Years of RERTR in Russia: past, present and future," Argonne National Laboratory Technology Development Division Web Site, http://www.td.anl.gov/Programs/RERTR/Web%202000/PDF/
Arkhan00.pdf
[3] Armando Travelli, "The U.S. RERTR Program Status and Progress," Argonne National Laboratory Technology Development Division Web Site, http://www.td.anl.gov/Programs/RERTR/Misc97/TRAVEL97.pdf. 
[4] Armando Travelli, "Status and Progress of the RERTR Program in the Year 2000," Argonne National Laboratory Technology Development Division Web Site, http://www.td.anl.gov/Programs/RERTR/Web%202000/PDF/
Trave00.pdf.
[5] Mattew Bunn, John P. Holdren, Anthony Wier, "Securing Nuclear Weapons and Materials: Seven Steps for Immediate Action," Project on Managing the Atom, Harvard University, May 2002, pp. 48-49.{Entered 5/28/2002 NL}
[6] "Global Threat Reduction Initiative," IAEA fact sheet, IAEA Web Site, http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/PDFplus/2004/cn139fact.pdf.
[7] "TC and the Global Threat Reduction Initiative," 7 January 2005, IAEA Web Site, http://www-tc.iaea.org/tcweb/regionalsites/europe/news/newsstory/default.asp?newsid=56. {Entered 2/2/05 CC}

Page last updated 2 February 2005

Comments or questions? Contact Contact Cristina Chuen at MIIS CNS: Cristina.ChuenATmiis.edu

This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2010 by MIIS.

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