AW: AW: [ RadSafe ] US DOE sells 200 tons of uranium hexafluoride

[Franz Schönhofer]

Sorry, RADSAFErs: This is probably the one and only occasion where somebody
hit the "answer" instead the "answer all" key! It was intended for the whole
RADSAFE community - what time ever it would take to be forwarded..... Thanks
for the comments received in the mean-time, which seem to confirm my fault
to associate "Paducah" with "depleted UF6". 

Best regards,

Franz







Gary, Luke, Dudley, Jason and others interested in the topic,

Thank you for your comments. There seems to be a little confusion, but this
might be my fault. Reading "Paducah" I automatically associated "depleted
uranium", especially when thinking of the well known photographs of the
large storage areas for the cylinders with depleted UF6 at Paducah, for
which there seems to be at the moment no real use - DU ammunition production
cannot use up the amounts stored. The fact that the companies paid for it
might also suggest that it was natural uranium hexafluoride and no waste
product! 

Taking another closer look, the message does not state, where the UF6
originates from (somebody with knowledge of US conversion plants?). I would
have believed that in order to keep transport and overall costs low
conversion would be coupled with the enrichment plant. I know that this is
not the case for instance in Iraq. "Delivery at Paducah" suggests that the
companies have already contracts for enrichment. 

Anybody who can give the background beyond speculations?

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA

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-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Gary Masters [mailto:gmasters at dotsplat.org] 
Gesendet: Montag, 05. November 2007 20:50
An: Franz Schönhofer
Betreff: Re: AW: [ RadSafe ] US DOE sells 200 tons of uranium hexafluoride

Franz,

My read of this news is that the DOE has sold said quantity of Uranium
Hexafluoride containing raw uranium. Assuming this is the case the
utilities would then pay some other company to process this to a suitable
level of enrichment.

This does strike me as a bit odd. It seems that it would make more sense
for one of the enrichment operations to purchase this material.

Gary Masters