National Nuclear Security Administration Reports Lower Overall Plutonium Inventory in U.S.

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A report from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in June details the U.S. inventory of plutonium owned by the Department of Energy (DOE), and includes material in possession of the Department of Defense (DoD) as of September 2009.

The plutonium inventory of the U.S. stood at 95.4 tons in 2009, which is 4.1 tons lower than in 1994. The tonnage held in the main at seven sites was composed of 81.3 tons of weapons-grade, 12.7 tons of fuel-grade, and 1.4 tons of power reactor-grade plutonium, according to the recently released report "The United States Plutonium Balance 1944-2009."

The report says that the four most significant changes since the last inventory report some 15 years ago include the completion of clean-up activities at the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado in 2005; material consolidation activities; the 2007 declaration of an additional 9 tons and disposition of surplus weapons-grade plutonium; and the opening of the waste isolation plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.

The most important factor for the reduction in inventory was the reclassification of process residues originally set aside for plutonium recovery as waste. Of the 4.1-ton reduction, 3.5 tons came from Rocky Flats residues sent to WIPP for disposition, reports NNSA.

The remainder came mostly from four other sites: Hanford (0.5 tons), Idaho (0.5 tons), Los Alamos National Laboratory (0.3 tons) and Savannah River (0.1 tons).

The plutonium estimated in waste is 9.7 tons, a 5.8-ton increase from the 1994 inventory of 3.9 tons. The increase is attributed to 4.4 tons in new discards from the accountable inventory; a 0.8-ton increase in Rocky Flats waste generated prior to 1970; a 0.4-ton increase in Hanford high-level waste tank estimates; 0.1 tons in solid waste at a commercial low-level radioactive disposal facility not included in the 1996 report; and 0.1 tons from other sites.

Plutonium surplus for defense needs is now 43.4 tons, a 5.2-ton increase from the 1994 declaration.

NNSA administrator Thomas D'Agostino said the public release of the U.S plutonium inventory was a demonstration of the commitment to transparency wherever possible. "As the United States moved into the 21st century, our nuclear security footprint changed, and our non-proliferation goal evolved," D'Agostino said. "The updated inventory is a reflection of that transition and an important gesture of openness to the international community."

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