Integrating uranium from weapons into the civil fuel cycle

Under a recently‐approved agreement, Russia will sell perhaps 500 tonnes of highly enriched uranium (HEU) recovered from its dismantled nuclear weapons to the US Department of Energy over the next twenty years. Blended with natural or depleted uranium to produce low‐enriched uranium for reactor fuel, this HEU could displace power consumption in the electricity‐intensive gaseous diffusion plants of the US. The sale of the HEU could be done in a way that minimizes uranium market disruptions and benefits both the US and Russia.