priate time after delivery of fuels to NFS. Such a step would protect the utilities against excessive use charges which would result in the event of processing delays at the NFS plant or by difficulties in expeditiously scheduling the processing of fuels delivered by the various NFS customers. The Commission recognizes this concern on the part of the utilities and is prepared to consider, at least for the early years of the NFS project, terminating its fuel use charges after an appropriate time after delivery of fuels to NFS. Before taking any such action, the Commission will submit to the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy proposed criteria for waiver of fuel use charges. The Commission will announce a policy in this respect when all of the statutory requirements for such a step have been met. Furthermore, AEC's base load contract will permit NFS broad flexibility in scheduling and processing Government fuels. Thus, licensees should obtain preferential use of available NFS plant time." Pursuant to section 58 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, the AEC hereby submits criteria for the proposed limitation of use charges, which could be construed as a partial waiver of such charges. The limitation shall apply to special nuclear material distributed under lease by the AEC for use in a nuclear reactor licensed pursuant to section 104 of the act and delivered not later than June 30, 1970, to any commercial facility in the United States for chemical processing after irradiation in a reactor. From the time of such delivery to the time when purified nitrates of uranium and plutonium are separated and recovered, the use charge shall not exceed a value calculated as approximately what the use charge would have been if the material had been delivered to the AEC for chemical processing. Specifications as to current cooling times and processing rates and other details to be used in this calculation will be provided in a notice in the Federal Register announcing this policy after the statutory requirements of section 58 have been met. This limitation of use charges is not intended to diminish the available amount of any waiver of use charges otherwise authorized pursuant to sections 58 or 261 of the act, nor to affect the time period during which any such waiver is available. Prior to the operation of a commercial processing facility, financial settlement for irradiated material may be made by the AEC with the reactor operator, at his option, in connection with (1) delivery of the material to an AEC site, (2) storage at the reactor site with later transfer to an AEC site or to a commercial facility with which the AEC has arranged for chemical processing, or (3) storage at the reactor site or at an AEC site with the reactor operator responsible for having the material processed at a commercial facility and the recovered material delivered to the AEC. Sincerely yours, GLENN T. SEABORG, Chairman. Hon. GLENN T. SEABORG, CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, Chairman, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, DEAR DR. SEABORG: This is to acknowledge your letter of July 26, 1963, to Senator Pastore concerning criteria for the waiver of use charges for nuclear fuel delivered by utilities to Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., for reprocessing. The information submitted in your letter of July 26 is not sufficiently detailed to permit an evaluation of the proposed waiver. Although your letter states that specific details to be used in computing the waiver period will "be provided in a notice in the Federal Register," we believe that it is necessary for the committee to be furnished with such information at the time of the initial submission of criteria, purusant to section 58 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Accordingly, we would like to request the Commission to resubmit the criteria for waiver of use charges in connection with nuclear fuel delivered to Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., including the detailed information required for a proper evaluation of such criteria. It is our intention that the 45-day statutory period pursuant to section 58 of the Atomic Energy Act will not begin to run until the above requested information is received by the committee. Your assistance in this matter is appreciated. Sincerely yours, JOHN T. CONWAY, Executive Director. Hon. JOHN O. PASTORE, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION, Washington, D.C., August 29, 1963. Chairman, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, DEAR SENATOR PASTORE: This is in reply to Mr. Conway's letter of August 2, 1963, requesting resubmission of a Commission proposal for a limitation of use charges in connection with commercial chemical processing of special nuclear material. The basis for the Commission's decision to submit this proposal is set forth in the following testimony by Commissioner Wilson at the hearings on May 14, 1963, before the Joint Committee concerning the project of Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS): "Many of the comments on the NFS project we have received from the utility industry have suggested that the AEC use charges be terminated at some appropriate time after delivery of fuels to NFS. Such a step would protect the utilities against excessive use charges which would result in the event of processing delays at the NFS plant or by difficulties in expeditiously scheduling the processing of fuels delivered by the various NFS customers. The Commission recognizes this concern on the part of the utilities and is prepared to consider, at least for the early years of the NFS project, terminating its fuel use charges after an appropriate time after delivery of fuels to NFS. Before taking any such action, the Commission will submit to the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy proposed criteria for waiver of fuel use charges. The Commission will announce a policy in this respect when all of the statutory requirements for such a step have been met. Furthermore, AEC's base load contract will permit NFS broad flexibility in scheduling and processing Government fuels. Thus, licensees should obtain preferential use of available NFS plant time.” The Commission has endeavored to adopt the same principles with respect to use charges on material delivered to a commercial processing facility as would have been applicable to material delivered to an AEC processing site. Pursuant to section 58 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the Commission is hereby resubmitting the criteria for a limitation of use charges, as follows: There shall be a limitation on use charges in connection with chemical processing after irradiation of special nuclear material distributed under subsections 53 a. (1) and (2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the act). The limitation shall apply only to special nuclear material that has been distributed under lease by the AEC for use in a nuclear reactor licensed pursuant to section 104 of the act and that, after irradiation in the reactor, is contained in a processing lot we delivered in processable form not later than June 30, 1970, to any commercial facility in the United States for chemical processing in accordance with an agreement between the lessee and the processor calling for expeditious processing of such lots. From the time of delivery to the commercial facility of the last container of the procesing lot of which such material is a part until the time when nitrates of any portion of such material have been recovered, separated, and purified in accordance with an agreement between the lessee and a processor and removed from the last receptacle involved in chemical processing to be placed in a shipping or other container, the AEC use charge on that portion, unless otherwise waived, shall apply only for the actual number of days elapsing or for a number of days calculated to represent an allowance for chemical processing time in an assumed AEC plant, whichever is less. As used here, the term "chemical processing" does not include storage of purified nitrates of uranium and plutonium or the conversion of such nitrates to other chemical forms. This limitation of use charges is not intended to diminish the available amount of any waiver of use charges otherwise authorized pursuant to sections 58 or 261 of the act, nor to affect the time period during which any such waiver is available. Material shall be considered as being in processable form for the purposes of these criteria if it is contained in fuel assemblies of a type capable of being processed in the commercial facility to which it is delivered, if the operators of the commercial facility have agreed to do the processing, and if a cooling period at least as long as that specified by the AEC for these purposes has elapsed subsequent to termination of irradiation of the material. A processing lot shall be considered as being in processable form if all the contained material meeting the requirements of the first paragraph of these criteria is in processable form. If this cooling period has not elapsed prior to delivery to the commercial :facility of the last container of the processing lot, the remainder of the cooling period shall be added to the processing time calculated in accordance with the next paragraph. "The number of days to be assumed for chemical processing of fuel assemblies containing material subject to these criteria in order to determine the limitation of use charges is (W/R) plus 30, where W is the weight in kilograms of uranium plus thorium in such fuel assemblies contained in a processing lot, R is the controlling processing rate in kilograms of uranium plus thorium per day in such fuel assemblies, and 30 is the number of days allowed for handling and scheduling. The value of R for fuel assemblies of various types shall be determined by the AEC for these purposes. If the material that is processed as one lot contains fuel assemblies of more than one type, with different values of R, then (W/R) shall be the sum of the quotients of weight divided by the controlling processing rate for each type. "In order to receive a limitation of use charges in accordance with these criteria, a lessee shall notify the AEC materials leasing officers that material meeting the requirements of the first paragraph of these criteria and contained in an intended processing lot has been delivered to a commercial facility in the United States for chemical processing and shall furnish him any information on the fuel, its irradiation, and its chemical processing that the AEC may require to administer these criteria. The AEC shall determine the applicability and the amount of any limitation of use charges hereunder and will notify the lessee of AEC's determination. The AEC may determine the use charge on a provisional basis if processing has not been accomplished in time to ascertain the makeup of the actual processing lot. Any such provisional determination may be adjusted by the AEC on the basis of subsequent information on the actual makeup of a processing lot, by debiting or crediting the lessee's lease account for special nuclear material as appropriate.” These criteria and examples of their application to certain types of fuel assemblies are included in a draft of a proposed Federal Register notice, which is enclosed for your information. You may recall that, prior to the operation of a commercial processing facility, financial settlement for irradiated material may be made by the AEC with the reactor operator, at his option, in connection with (1) delivery of the material to an AEC site, (2) storage at the reactor site with later transfer to an AEC site or to a commercial facility with which the AEC has arranged for chemical processing, or (3) storage at the reactor site or at an AEC site with the reactor operator responsible for having the material processed at a commercial facility and recovered material delivered to the AEC. We shall be glad to discuss any aspect of this subject with you. Sincerely yours, Enclosure: Proposed Federal Register notice. GLENN T. SEABORG, Chairman. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION CHEMICAL PROCESSING AFTER IRRADIATION OF SPECIAL NUCLEAR MATERIAL USE CHARGES FOR LEASED MATERIAL 1. General. The United States Atomic Energy Commission (the AEC) hereby gives notice of a limitation on use charges in connection with chemical processing after irradiation of special nuclear material distributed under subsections 53 a. (1); and (2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the act). The limitation shall apply only to special nuclear material that has been distributed under lease by the AEC for use in a nuclear reactor licensed pursuant to section 104 of the act and that, after irradiation in the reactor, is contained in a processing lot delivered in processable form not later than June 30, 1970, to any commercial facility in the United States for chemical processing in accordance with an agreement between the lessee and the processor calling for expeditious processing of such lots. From the time of delivery to the commercial facility of the last container of the processing lot of which such material is a part until the time when nitrates of any portion of such material have been recovered, separated, and purified in accordance with an agreement between the lessee and <a processor and removed from the last receptacle involved in chemical processing to be placed in a shipping or other container, the AEC use charge on that portion, unless otherwise waived, shall apply only for the actual number of days elapsing or for a number of days calculated as specified in this notice, whichever is less. As used in this notice, the term "chemical processing" does not include storage of purified nitrates of uranium and plutonium or the conversion of such nitrates to other chemical forms. The calculated number of days represents an allowance for chemical processing time in an assumed AEC plant. Specifications as to processable form, processing rates, and other information to be used in this calculation are given below; these are solely for the purposes of determining the limitation of use charges under this notice and are subject to change or augmentation from time to time. For any fuel type whose cooling period and processing rate are not covered by specifications in this notice, the AEC will determine, on request by the lessee, an applicable period and rate consistent with those for fuel types covered herein. This notice is not intended to diminish the available amount of any waiver of use charges otherwise authorized pursuant to sections 58 or 261 of the act, nor to affect the time period during which any such waiver is available. 2. Processable form.-Material shall be considered as being in processable form for the purposes of this notice if it is contained in fuel assemblies of a type capable of being processed in the commercial facility to which it is delivered, if the operators of the commercial facility have agreed to do the processing, and if a cooling period at least as long as that specified below has elapsed subsequent to termination of irradiation of the material. A processing lot shall be considered as being in processable form if all the contained material meeting the requirements of paragraph 1 above is in processable form. If this cooling period has not elapsed prior to delivery to the commercial facility of the last container of the processing lot, the remainder of the cooling period shall be added to the processing time calculated in accordance with paragraph 3 below. (a) If thorium had not been incorporated in the fuel assemblies prior to irradiation: (i) for uranium that contained not more than 6 weight percent of uranium 235 in total uranium before irradiation and that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor in which the neutron energies were primarily in the thermal region, the cooling period for the purposes of this notice shall be 120 days; (ii) for uranium not meeting the conditions in (i) above, the cooling period for the purposes of this notice will be determined by the AEC on request by the lessee, but will not exceed 180 days. (b) If thorium had been incorporated in the fuel assemblies prior to irradiation, the cooling period for the purposes of this notice shall be as given in the following table. Linear interpolation shall be used between the values tabulated. Grams of protactinium 233 per kilogram of uranium 233 immediately after termination of irradiation : 20 or less__ 45_ 75_ 140 250. 500__ Cooling period in days 120 150 170 190 210 230 3. Allowance for chemical processing time. The number of days to be assumed for chemical processing of fuel assemblies containing material subject to this notice in order to determine the limitation of use charges is (W/R) plus 30, where W is the weight in kilograms of uranium plus thorium in such fuel assemblies contained in a processing lot, R is the controlling processing rate in kilograms of uranium plus thorium per day in such fuel assemblies, and 30 is the number of days allowed for handling and scheduling. The value of R shall be determined as the least value obtained from (a), (b), or (c) below, as applicable, but shall not exceed 1,000. If the material that is processed as one lot contains fuel assemblies of more than one type, with different values of R, than (W/R) shall be the sum of the quotients of weight divided by the controlling processing rate for each type. (a) A value of R shall be determined from the following table, for a given assay of uranium 235, by multiplying the corresponding uranium processing rate by the ratio of the total amount of uranium plus thorium to the amount of uranium in the processing lot for a particular type of fuel assembly. Where a discrete fuel assembly to be processed as a unit contains uranium of various assays of uranium 235 before irradiation, the weighted average of those assays may be used. Linear interpolation shall be used between the values tabulated. Assay before irradiation in weight percent of uranium 235 in total uranium: 100. 93_ Uranium processing rate in kilograms of uranium per day 40 44 50 65 78 98 132 161 215 310 537 740 781 825 875 930 1,000 3 or less... (b) If the material to be processed is clad with a metal in which the major alloy constituent is any element other than zirconium or aluminum, the value of R shall not exceed 870 kilograms of uranium plus thorium per day. If the uranium to be processed is dispersed in a metallic or ceramic matrix other than thorium or a thorium compound or if plutonium or uranium 233 had been incorporated in the fuel assembly prior to irradiation, the AEC will determine an applicable processing rate, on request by the lessee. (c) R shall not exceed a value obtained by multiplying the thorium processing rate given below by the ratio of the total amount of uranium plus thorium to the amount of thorium in the processing lot for a particular type of fuel assembly. The thorium processing rate for the purposes of this notice shall be 1,000 kilograms of thorium per day if thorium is not recovered and 600 kilograms of thorium per day if thorium is recovered. 4. Information required.—In order to receive a limitation of use charges in accordance with this notice, a lessee shall notify the AEC materials leasing officer that material meeting the requirements of paragraph 1 above and contained in an intended processing lot has been delivered to a commercial facility in the United States for chemical processing and shall furnish him information as to (a) the amounts of total uranium, uranium 235, uranium 233, protactinium 233, thorium, and plutonium isotopes present before irradiation and estimated to be present after irradiation, (b) the cladding material and any matrix material, (c) the makeup of the actual processing lot when processing occurs, (d) the dates of actual processing and of removal of purified nitrates of material subject to this notice from the last receptacle involved in chemical processing, and (e) any other information on the fuel, its irradiation, and its chemical processing that the AEC may require to administer this notice. 5. Determination by the AEC.-The AEC reserves the right to interpret this notice in order to determine the applicability and the amount of any limitation of use charges hereunder and will notify the lessee of AEC's determination. The AEC may determine the use charge on a provisional basis if processing has not been accomplished in time to ascertain the makeup of the actual processing lot. Any such provisional determination may be adjusted by the AEC on the basis of subsequent information on the actual makeup of a processing lot, by debiting or crediting the lessee's lease account for special nuclear material as appropriate. 6. Correspondence.-Any correspondence involving this notice should be addressed to: AEC Materials Leasing Officer, Oak Ridge Operations Office, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Post Office Box E, Oak Ridge, Tenn. 7. Effective date. This notice is effective upon publication in the Federal Register. |