How to get uranium out of Canada? (Hard work and ingenuity!)

Both Chalk River and SRS had to design, build, and install specialized equipment to handle the highly radioactive TRM. Major engineering and logistics challenges had to be overcome to safely move the material from the underground tank into transport canisters and back into secure storage when the liquid was unloaded at SRS's H-Canyon, a large radiochemical separations facility.

Planning for the removal and transport campaign involved details large and small. For example, technicians and engineers had to ensure that all the hoses and fittings for every piece of equipment worked both at Chalk River and SRS. The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management , which owns and operates SRS and H-Canyon, played a significant part in planning and executing this project.

AECL contracted with NAC International to design and license a special canister to fit inside the spent nuclear fuel transportation cask. Each canister holds 15 gallons of TRM and four of them fit inside the specialized cask. The method was reviewed and approved by authorities in both countries to ensure safety.

It's more than 1,000 miles from Chalk River to SRS. NNSA coordinated the trips among its Canadian partners, the shipping contractor, Tribal Nations, and multiple U.S. federal and state agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In addition, NNSA trained more than 2,000 first responders who work along the routes so they would be prepared to deal with any problems.

Success

In the end, the TRM removal team successfully completed the 115 truck shipments without incident, despite having to load, unload, and ship material year-round in weather conditions ranging from freezing Canadian winters to broiling southern U.S. summers.

During this multi-year campaign, over 161 kilograms of HEU were returned, processed, and recovered. And the Mo-99 produced helped many American patients. This multi-year campaign marks another important step in the global effort to minimize the civilian use of HEU, and is another aspect of NNSA's vital mission.

Learn more about NNSA's Nonproliferation mission.