Government perspective

The Clinton Administration made some initial moves on non-proliferation in July. On July 13, US Dept. of Energy (DOE) Secretary, Hazel O'Leary, announced her decision to reinstate a policy to accept spent fuel from international research reactors. The US State Dept. encouraged DOE to adopt the policy in support of the Reduced Enrichment in Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program designed to encourage foreign governments to convert their research reactors from using highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium (below 20 weight-percent 235U). As part of an earlier agreement, DOE had consented to take back spent fuel if the reactors were converted. Many of these research reactors, however, have such a limited lifetime that backfitting them is not an economic option. Furthermore, the Europeans have been particularly vocal in their opposition to DOE's insistence that low-enriched uranium be used in research reactors, as a condition of its acceptance of spent fuel returns