Radiation Safety Issues of Using Regenerated Uranium in Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing at the Electrostal Plant

Concerns about potential shortage of natural uranium and its increased cost, as well as the accumulation of stocks of regenerated uranium, created interest in using regenerated uranium in the process of manufacturing fuel assemblies for power reactors. However, using regenerated uranium in the fuel manufacturing process presents significant challenges from the radiation safety point of view, as this uranium contains radioactive isotopes associated with uranium-232. To explore the possibility of using regenerated uranium in the fuel manufacturing process, the Electrostal Machine-Building Plant explored the possibility of using uranium with uranium-232 concentrations of up to 5 ppb. The results of the pilot project suggest that large-scale production of reactor fuel from uranium with high concentrations of uranium-232 would require a substantial change of the technological processes and procedures for storage and handling and storage of the fuel produced with this uranium.