NS Savannah Fuel Disposition at Sandia: Atoms for Peace comes \"full cycle\"

In September 1998, SNL/NM transferred over 2.2 metric tons of non-irradiated low-enriched Uranium (LEU) reactor fuel to Framatome Cogema Fuels (FGF) for refabrication. The Tenessee Valley Authority (TVA) will use the reconstituted fuel to produce electricity in a commercial nuclear plant. This nuclear material transfer supports DOE's Off Specification Fuel Program and demonstrates that enriched Uranium deemed (excess to national security\" can be reused to make electricity in civillian nuclear power plants. The ten nucclear fuel assemplies delivered to FCF by SNL were part of a reserve core for the prototype nuclear freighter, the NS Savannah. The Savannah, ;aunched in July 1959, was part of the Toms For Peace program initiated by President Eisenhower to deomonstrate the peaceful uses of atomic energy. in 1971, after several years of successful technical operation, the NS Savannah was decomissoned. In 1979, ten Savannah fuel assemplues were transferred to SNL for a NRC-sponsored study, and the remained in long-term storage for nearly 20 years. The successful disposition of this legacy material is a tribute to a well-cooridinated and determined terms effort among various organizations at SNL and DOE and contains a number of \"lessons learned\" for other sites in the DOE complex.