Uranium Enrichment: U.S. Imports of Soviet Enriched Uranium.

摘要

On April 12,1989, Representative Marilyn Lloyd asked us to address several issues concerning domestic utilities' purchases of uranium and enrichment services from the U.S.S.R. Specifically, we were asked to determine the amount of Soviet uranium ore and enriched uranium imported into the United States and the extent to which utilities 'flag swap' to disguise these purchases; U.S.S.R.'s enriched uranium trading practices; need for utilities to return spent (used) fuel to the U.S.S.R. as part of the enriched uranium sales agreement; U.S. import requirements applicable to uranium or enriched uranium; and reasons that U.S. utilities have terminated their purchase contracts with the Department of Energy (DOE). To obtain information on the amount of uranium and enriched uranium entering the United States, we contacted officials within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, who help maintain the joint DOE/NRC Nuclear Materials Management and Safeguards Systems--a data base containing information on all nuclear transactions, including imports. NRC provided us data on Soviet enriched uranium imports since 1977 and information on spent fuel exports from the United States. jg p.6.