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Undeclared uranium hitches a ride on cobalt exports from Congo, study says
Philippe (left) and Manzuk quantified the amount of uranium that has been exported from the DRC in cobalt shipments or left behind in the environment. (Photo: Joel Hallberg/UW–Madison)
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University have published a study in Nature Communications that calls attention to a blind spot in nuclear nonproliferation: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has exported thousands of metric tons of uranium, and there is no accounting for where it has gone.
In partnership with Lighthouse Reports and the Financial Times, UW–Madison nuclear engineering professor and nuclear security expert Sébastien Philippe and Ryan Manzuk, a geologist and research fellow in Philippe’s group and at Princeton, conducted the study using countrywide mineralization and geochemical data.
Yongdeok Lee, Jung Won Lee, Joo-Hwan Park
Nuclear Technology | Volume 179 | Number 1 | July 2012 | Pages 97-105
Technical Paper | Special Issue on Safeguards / Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A14070
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The evaluation of proliferation resistance on the DUPIC fuel cycle was performed using the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) user manual. The user manual was finally published from INPRO as a tool for proliferation resistance evaluation. Five user requirements were well organized under one basic principle, and each evaluation parameter for each user requirement has criteria for qualitative and quantitative evaluation for an innovative nuclear system. The DUPIC fuel cycle is to fabricate CANDU fuel from spent pressurized water reactor fuel by use of a dry thermal process without separating the stable fission products. The DUPIC process and fabricated fuel have very intense radiation background and a low amount of fissile plutonium and uranium. The DUPIC fuel cycle has a number of intrinsic features that enhance proliferation resistance. The number of assemblies in the DUPIC process to get 1 significant quantity is very large ([approximately]48 assemblies). The assessment results using the user manual show that the DUPIC fuel cycle is very strong against nuclear proliferation by the material property itself and the facility condition. Additionally, several suggestions and conditions were made to increase the proliferation resistance for innovative future nuclear energy system.