U.S., Canada complete nuclear material shipping effort

What they’re saying: “Completing this multiyear project with Canada marks another important step in the global effort to minimize the civilian use of HEU around the world,” said William Bookless, the NNSA’s acting administrator. “This significant achievement could not have been accomplished without the strong cooperation and hard work from all our partners in Canada and the United States.”

Richard Sexton, president and chief executive officer of AECL, said, “This is another great example of AECL and NNSA working together to advance our shared nonproliferation objectives and advance global nuclear security.”

At SRS: Also on January 12, EM Operations at the Savannah River Site announced the completion of its part in the campaign: the receipt and processing of the TRM at the site’s H Canyon facility. “The TRM HEU was unique in that it was received already dissolved and in liquid form,” said Bill Giddings, SRNS’s TRM program manager, in the EM announcement. “Most of the HEU H Canyon receives comes in the form of spent nuclear fuel rods that need to be dissolved before we can process the resulting solution. To process TRM, we needed to do some facility modifications and creative problem solving to ensure we maintained the safety of our employees and facility, while staying on schedule and in budget.”

In case you missed it: Last year, the NNSA and AECL signed a memorandum of understanding—called Cooperation and Exchange of Information in Nuclear Security, Safeguards, and Nonproliferation Matters—to enable more effective collaboration in the areas of nuclear safety and security. The five-year agreement was signed virtually on October 16.