Shaw AREVA MOX Services and Tennessee Valley Authority Sign Letter of Intent to Evaluate MOX Fuel
- By Stephen Heiser -
The Shaw Group Inc. has announced that Shaw AREVA MOX Services, LLC (MOX Services) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) have signed a letter of intent to enter into contract negotiations for the procurement of Mixed Oxide fuel (MOX). MOX fuel is manufactured from surplus weapon-grade plutonium and can be used as a low-cost alternative to power nuclear reactors. MOX Services is a joint venture between Shaw's Environmental & Infrastructure Group and AREVA.
The TVA is evaluating the use of MOX fuel as an alternative in its Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2 and Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Units 1, 2 and 3; it also may evaluate use of the fuel in its future nuclear generation projects. MOX Services will continue to collaborate with the TVA in its evaluation process.
Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel contains a mixture of approximately 95 percent uranium oxide and 5 percent plutonium oxide. Low enriched nuclear fuel that is normally used in U.S. commercial power plants only contains uranium oxide. The MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility blends plutonium oxide (PuO2) with uranium oxide (UO2)powder to make a mixed oxide powder. This powder is milled to ensure uniform distribution of the plutonium, and to adjust the particle size of the MOX powder. The MOX powder is made into small pellets about the size of a pencil eraser. The pellets are pressed into shape, sintered (baked at high temperatures) and ground to the required dimensions of approximately 1/3 inch in diameter and 4/10 inch in length.
The finished pellets are loaded into fuel rods through an open end. An end plug is then inserted into the open end of the fuel rod and the rod is welded shut. The fuel rods are inspected, decontaminated, and bundled together to form fuel assemblies. Each fuel assembly will contain 264 fuel rods. The assembly will then be prepared for transportation to a commercial reactor.
MOX Services is under contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration to complete construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site located in Aiken, S.C. MOX Services is responsible for design, license and full construction of the main facility and all support facilities, cold startup of the MOX facility and continued support of Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing activities associated with the MOX facility. Operations at the facility will include removing impurities from surplus weapon-grade plutonium and combining with uranium oxide, forming MOX fuel pellets for use in commercial nuclear power reactors by 2016.
“The MOX project and use of MOX fuel is an important step toward turning 34 metric tons of the nation's surplus plutonium stockpile—enough for 8,500 nuclear weapons—into useable, low-cost, carbon-free electricity,” said George Bevan, president of Shaw’s Environmental & Infrastructure Group. “MOX Services remains optimistic about these negotiations, and we look forward to reaching an agreement by the summer of 2010.”
In 1999, the National Nuclear Security Administration signed a contract with Shaw AREVA MOX Services, LLC to design, build, and operate a Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility. This facility will be a major component in the United States’ program to dispose of surplus weapon-grade plutonium.
Construction of the 600,000-square-foot facility requires over 170,000 cubic yards of concrete, 35,000 tons of reinforcing steel, 23,000 instruments, 1000 tons of heating and air conditioning vents, 500,000 feet of conduit, 47,000 feet of cable tray, 3,600,000 feet of power and control cable, and 85 miles of piping.
The facility will be capable of turning 3.5 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium into MOX fuel assemblies annually. The facility will be licensed for 20 years, with operations to continue into the 2030s.
The Shaw Group Inc. is a leading global provider of technology, engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, fabrication, manufacturing, consulting, remediation and facilities management services for government and private sector clients in the energy, chemicals, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response markets. A Fortune 500 company with fiscal year 2008 annual revenues of $7 billion, Shaw is headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., and employs approximately 26,000 people at its offices and operations in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. Shaw is the power sector industry leader according to Engineering News-Record's list of Top 500 Design Firms.