States commit to minimize highly enriched uranium in civilian applications

Recently a group of 21 states made a commitment to minimize and ultimately eliminate the use of HEU in civilian applications. Signatories of a joint statement undertook to undertake a comprehensive plan in this regard, consisting of the following actions:

·         Refraining from the use of HEU in new civilian facilities or applications

·         Fuel conversion or shutdown of HEU-fuelled reactors

·         Removal, downblending or disposition of HEU stocks

·         Finding LEU alternatives for medical isotope production

They will also voluntarily submit reports on their HEU inventories and abovementioned actions to the IAEA every year by 1 March.

The Joint Statement can be found at https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/documents/infcircs/2017/infcirc912.pdf