Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Programme

For almost four years the United States of America, the Russian Federation and the IAEA have been discussing an initiative to return research reactor fuel of former Soviet Union or Russian origin to the Russian Federation. In a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings in Vienna and Moscow, considerable progress has been made towards defining the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Programme, as well as obtaining the necessary technical data to facilitate the return. More than 20 research reactors in 17 countries that have Soviet- or Russian-supplied fuel have identified. Most of these reactors have stocks of both fresh and irradiated HEU fuel that must be carefully stored and managed for many years to come. On 21 September 2003, the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Programme shipped 14 kg of fresh Russian-origin HEU fuel from Romania to the nuclear fuel fabrication facility in the Russian Federation, which represented the beginning of the practical implementation of the programme. (author)