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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.
Ernie Kee, John Hasenbein, Alex Zolan, Phil Grissom, Seyed Reihani, Zahra Mohaghegh, Fatma Yilmaz, Bruce Letellier, Vera Moiseytseva, Rodolfo Vaghetto, David Imbaratto, Tatsuya Sakurahara
Nuclear Technology | Volume 196 | Number 2 | November 2016 | Pages 270-291
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT16-34
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An approach is described that would use test data to evaluate the risk associated with the concerns raised in Generic Safety Issue 191 (GSI-191). The relationship to the elements of quantitative risk-informed regulation for addressing the concerns raised in GSI-191 in pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant licensing is described. Use of experimental data from a deterministic sump performance test to establish scenario success for tested debris loads is summarized and compared to the licensing requirements in the regulations. Generation and transport of debris to the emergency core cooling system sump from a loss-of-coolant accident is described, and data are shown for a particular PWR. Application of the analysis results to a license amendment for an operating PWR is summarized.