GAO report: NNSA improves foreign research reactor security, but some concerns remain

摘要

The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has made foreign research reactors more secure, but remaining concerns need to be addressed, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report presented on September 17 to the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.rnThe report (GAO-09-949), which reviews the national security risks of high-enriched uranium (HEU) used in research reactors in countries of proliferation concern, is available online at.rnAs of August 2009, the report notes, 18 of the 22 foreign research reactors in the NNSA's Global Research Reactor Security (GRRS) program had received security upgrades at a total cost of about $8 million. An additional $6 million will be spent in 2010 to complete upgrades at the remaining four reactors (or to remove all the HEU prior to the upgrades) and to make further improvements at some reactors where work has already been done.