Decreasing HEU Stocks and Use at the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE)

One legacy of the Soviet nuclear program is great quantities of high enriched uranium that were used in different research programs. IPPE was (and still is) actively involved in nuclear energy development and application, including fast breeder, naval propulsion and space power reactors. A special experimental complex, including critical assemblies and research reactors was created. Over more then 50 years of research activities, a great quantity of HEU fuel was accumulated. Some of this fuel is still in use at critical assemblies (notably BFS) and some is in storage. Some is being shipped off for blend-down and some could be re-fabricated to reduce its enrichment but still be useful for research. This paper describes the issues involved – especially for the BFS critical assemblies.