2.3 Thousand LEU, Th Fuel Elements Unaccounted for in Germany
2,300 irradiated fuel pebbles (spherical uranium-thorium fuel elements used in high temperature reactors) were discovered missing from the Nuclear Research Center in Juelich, Germany. German authorities presume that the missing pebbles may have been transferred to the low and intermediary level radioactive waste storage facility in Asse in 2009. However, according to the Federal Agency for Radiation Protection of Germany, the facility's records do not contain any information on the spent fuel from Juelich.
Abstract Number: 20110550
Headline: 2.3 Thousand LEU, Th Fuel Elements Unaccounted for in Germany
Date: April 2011
Bibliography: "NRW rätselt über verschwundenen Atommüll [NRW puzzled over missing nuclear waste]," Welt Online, 3 April 2011, www.welt.de
Material: LEU, Th
This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, or agents.
This article is part of a collection examining reported incidents of nuclear or radioactive materials trafficking in or originating from the Newly Independent States.