Year
1998
Abstract
The Department of Energy=s Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program is developing long-range management strategy alternatives for its inventory of depleted uranium hexafluoride. One of these alternatives will be selected for implementation upon completion of a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS), now in preparation. The PEIS will contain assessments of the environmental impacts of the alternative strategies. The Department=s preferred alternative is to use the entire inventory of the material. To do this, we would seek to reduce the potential total cost of conversion by reducing the per-unit conversion costs, increase the demand for the fluorine and uranium in the material, and expand program visibility through increased stakeholder awareness of the inventory=s potential value. The Department would identify public and private-sector partners for cost-sharing agreements in order to develop new conversion technologies, to refine existing technologies, and to develop new uses for the component fluorine and uranium materials. This program would then provide a focal point, both in the United States and internationally, for the development of more efficient conversion technologies, and for the future development of beneficial uses for the depleted uranium hexafluoride and its components.