There is considerable confusion with regard to the
amount of plutonium which is currently involved in commerce
associated with non-military applications of nuclear energy.
One element of the confusion concerns the quantities of
plutonium which have been and are being fabricated into
fuel elements for use in reactors outside the United States.

I would appreciate your providing information which indicates, for the period January 1, 1975 through the present, the number of international shipments to and from fuel fabrication facilities in the United States, the countries of origin and destination of these shipments, and the amount of material involved in each shipment. Please also indicate the mode of transportation.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Morris K. Udall, Chairman
Subcommittee on Energy and
the Environment

UNITED

COMMISSION

COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555

Honorable Morris K. Udall
Chairman

Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
U. S. House of Representatives

Dear Chairman Udall:

Chairman Anders has asked me to acknowledge your letter of
March 19, concerning the amount of plutonium fabricated into
fuel elements for use in reactors outside the United States.

As Mr. Myers of your Subcommittee staff has been advised, some
of this information is not readily available and must be retrieved
from the Technical Information Center in Oakridge, Tennessee.

Please be assured that our response to your request will be
forthcoming as soon as this information becomes available to
us and can be analysed by NRC staff.

Sincerely,

Carlton Kammerer

Carlton Kammerer, Director
Office of Congressional Affairs

UNITED

COMMISSION

OFFICE OF THE
CHAIRMAN

WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555

April 27, 1976

The Honorable Morris K. Udall
Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy

and the Environment

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D. C. 20515

Dear Chairman Udall:

This is in response to your letter of March 19, 1976, in which you
requested information on international shipments of plutonium to and
from fuel fabrication facilities in the United States.

During the period January 1, 1975 to March 26, 1976, the only fuel
fabrication facility in the United States that received international
shipments of plutonium was the Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Plutonium Fuel Development Laboratory (PFDL), Cheswick, Pennsylvania.
The Cheswick facility received two shipments of plutonium from Belgium
in the form of oxide and exported one shipment of fuel rods containing
mixed oxide fuel to Italy. The information requested on these shipments
is enclosed.

For your information, the plutonium Westinghouse imported from Belgium was obtained from Italian spent fuel elements which were reprocessed in Europe and is the same material used in the fabrication of the fuel rods subsequently exported to Italy. Included in the manufacture of the fuel rods were 45.130 kilograms of plutonium previously imported from Belgium in July 1974. This 1974 import was transported by air, the same as for the February 1975 shipment.

I hope you will find this information responsive to your request. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

Enclosure:
As stated

Marcus A Powder

Marcus A. Rowder
Chairman