STOP TRADE IN BOMB GRADE URANIUM.
With bomb-grade, high-enriched uranium (HEU), a student
could make a bomb powerful enough to destroy a city.
Low-enriched uranium (LEU) can't be made into bombs.
Which fuel do you want in university reactors?
STOP TRADE IN BOMB GRADE URANIUM.
With bomb-grade, high-enriched uranium (HEU), a student
could make a bomb powerful enough to destroy a city.
Low-enriched uranium (LEU) can't be made into bombs.
Which fuel do you want in university reactors?
| Jump to ARTICLES |
 | The Nuclear Control Institute plays a leading role in advocating and supporting U.S.-led international efforts to end civilian uses of weapon-usable uranium (so-called highly enriched uranium, or "HEU"). Commerce in HEU is especially dangerous because of the relative ease with which it can be made into nuclear weapons. According to Manhattan Project physicist Luis Alvarez, |
 Commerce in HEU is especially dangerous. |
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Even a student could make a bomb. | |
| International trade in HEU was started with little foresight in the 1950s, under the U.S. Atoms for Peace program. Over the next three decades, the United States exported dozens of nuclear research reactors and tens of tons of HEU---the same material used in the Hiroshima bomb. If stolen or diverted, a tiny fraction of this material---less than 25 kilograms---would be sufficient to build a nuclear weapon. |
HEU was used in the Hiroshima bomb. | |
| For more than a decade, NCI has helped build support in Congress and government agencies for completing the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) Program. The program converts reactors from bomb-grade to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, ensuring virtually the same reactor performance without the proliferation risks. |
LEU: Good performance without risks. | |
| NCI helped win enactment of a law in 1992 that prohibits U.S. exports of HEU to reactors not cooperating fully with the RERTR program. Our Institute also intervened before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to block HEU exports to reactors, such as the European Community's Petten reactor in the Netherlands, that could convert to LEU fuel but refuses to do so. NCI is now intervening before NRC to prevent export of HEU to Canada for use in developing HEU "targets" for production of medical isotopes in reactors, because Canada is not cooperating with U.S. efforts to develop alternative LEU targets. NCI is also working to oppose the use of HEU fuel in the German FRM-II reactor, now under construction near Munich. As the first large HEU-fueled research reactor (outside of China and Libya) built in 20 years, FRM-II would seriously undermine the RERTR Program's efforts to end HEU commerce. |
NCI efforts to stop trade in HEU fuel. |
"First,
Do No Harm": House Energy Bill's Medical Loophole Eases Exports of
Bomb-Grade Uranium NCI Press Release (April 1, 2003)
NCI Calls for Halt in Exports of Bomb-Grade Fuel to CanadaJuly 27, 2001
NCI Files Petition With NRC To Block ExportOf Bomb-Grade Uranium June 27, 2001
NCI Letter to Richard Meserve, US NRC Chairman, May 9, 2000 NCI Letter to Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB), May 3, 2000 NCI Letter to Richard Meserve, US NRC Chairman, December 17, 1999 Chairman Meserve's Reply to NCI, January 27, 2000
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 Petition
of the Nuclear Control Institute for Leave to Intervene and Request for Hearing
(re: proposed export of 130.65 kg of highly enriched uranium to Canada)Petition submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, December 30, 1998
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| Civilian
Highly Enriched Uranium and the Fissile Material Convention: Codifying the Phase-out
of Bomb Grade Fuel for Research Reactors Alan Kuperman, Senior Policy Analyst, NCI, October 9, 1998 | |||||||||||||
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NRC approves export of bomb-grade uranium
to Canada after winning Canadian pledge to develop safer alternative | |||||||||||||
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End Global Commerce
in Bomb-Grade Fuel Paul Leventhal and Sharon Tanzer op-ed, International Herald Tribune, May 7, 1998 | |||||||||||||
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Bavarian Prime Minister Mischaracterizes
UN Agency's Stance on Munich Reactor | |||||||||||||
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NCI Says FRM II Poses Risk of Catastrophic
Accident NCI Press Release, March 27, 1998 English TextGerman Text | |||||||||||||
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NCI Urges Bavarian
Environment Minister to Halt Work on FRM II NCI Letter, March 26, 1998 | |||||||||||||
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Declaration to
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regarding Proposed Export of HEU to Canada Paul Leventhal, president, NCI, February 11, 1998 | |||||||||||||
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Petition of the
Nuclear Control Institute for Leave to Intervene and Request for Hearing in the
Matter of Proposed Export of HEU to Canada Eldon Greenberg, Counsel, NCI, December 29, 1997 | |||||||||||||
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RERTR End-Game:
A Win-Win Framework Alan Kuperman, senior consultant, and Paul Leventhal, president, NCI Presented at the International Meeting on the RERTR Program, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, October 5-10, 1997 | |||||||||||||
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Civilian Uses
of Bomb-Grade Uranium and the NNPT NCI Position Paper Prepared for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) Preparatory Committee Meeting (PrepComm), United Nations, New York, April 7, 1997 | |||||||||||||
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German Claims
of American NPT Violation Debunked; Proposed German Reactor is Real Violator,
says NCI Press Release, October 29, 1996 | |||||||||||||
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NCI Criticizes
FRM-II Groundbreaking: "The Wrong Reactor at the Wrong Time" Press Release, August 1, 1996 | |||||||||||||
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A Three-Nation Nuclear
End Run Paul Leventhaland Alan Kuperman op-ed, New York Times, June 6, 1996, International Herald Tribune, June 8-9, 1996 | |||||||||||||
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O'Leary's Decision
to Take Back Bomb-Grade Uranium is Major Victory Against Nuclear Terrorism Threat NCI press release, May 13, 1996 | |||||||||||||
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Bavaria's 'Rogue
Elephant' Decision To Build Reactor with Bomb-Grade Uranium Sets Dangerous Precedent NCI press release, April 9, 1996 | |||||||||||||
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TUM Goes Loco
Over Logo NCI Correspondence with TUM, April 1996 | |||||||||||||
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NCI to Secretary of State Christopher:
Stop Russian-European Bomb-Grade Uranium Deal Two letters from NCI to Secretary of State Warren Christopher, January
5 and February 22, 1996, concerning negotiations
between Russia and Euratom for supply of Russian highly enriched uranium
(HEU) fuel---and the implications for Germany's planned HEU-fueled reactor. | |||||||||||||
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"German's
HEU Decision at Garching: Impact on World Commerce in Bomb-Grade Uranium" Testimony by Paul Leventhal presented to Hearing of Green Party on the Garching 2 Research Reactor, Bonn, Germany, November 1, 1995 | |||||||||||||
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"German's
HEU Decision at Garching: Impact on World Commerce in Bomb-Grade Uranium" Testimony by Paul Leventhal presented to Hearing of Green Party on the Garching 2 Research Reactor, Bonn, Germany, November 1, 1995 | |||||||||||||
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"RERTR at
the Crossroads: Success or Demise" paper by Paul Leventhal and Alan Kuperman presented to the International RERTR Conference, Paris, France, September 18, 1995 |
