MTP: I think we need to ask and ask and ask (2 febbraio)

Tara:

We have the report, DOE/ORO-859, and also others.The DOE report discusses the totality of recovered U that went to Fernald.DOE has produced U mass balance reports for the GDP's.We have one for the Portsmouth GDP.But the ones for the Paducah GDP and Fernald are being withheld; we have FOIA's in for these reports.Because the issue of contaminants in Europe has gotten so heated, we may have to go to court to get copies.Getting these reports is crucial.In particular, we want to know the ultimate location of the U recovered from commercial irradiated fuel at West Valley.We know this U went to Fernald and we know that it never went to Portsmouth; it never went to Paducah through 1976.Thus, this recovered U, with higher Pu and Tc concentrations, either went to Paducah in 1977 or later, OR, it went directly to NMI's conversion plant in South Carolina where it was converted to U metal for armor penetrators.If it took this latter route, then the penetrators would have been much more highly contaminated than if the U was removed from the GDP as DU.The Tc and Pu then would definitely be detected.

I hope this is helpful.You can post this on the bulletin board, if you find it useful.

Marvin



----- Original Message -----
From: "Tara Thornton"
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 10:22 AM
Subject: PU in DU

Hi Hari and Marvin,

Below is a part of a message from Dan Fahey:

"Through FOIA I obtained a 1985 DOE report that said one batch of several thousand pounds of DU had Pu levels in the thousands of ppb, and that some of this DU had been released for commercial uses. So I think we need to ask and ask and ask for the paper trail tying the DU used in the gulf , Balkans, Germany, Japan, US, etc. back to the original DOE batches so that we can verify the Pu levels."

The report he's referring to is,The report of the Joint Task Force on Uranium Recycle Materials Procesing.Oak Ridge Operations US Department of Energy Report no. DOE/OR-859, Septmeber 1985. If either of you want a copy I have it in the office and can send you one.

 What do you make of the PU levels in the thousands of ppb?

Tara