Tritium production for nuclear weapons, or why TVA is a nuclear

bomb company

Tom ClementsAlliance for Nuclear accountability

What is tritium?• Tritium, hydrogen-3, is a radioactive gas produced

by bombarding lithium targets with neutrons• Tritium is radioactive isotope of hydrogen and has

a half life of 12.3 years• Was initially produced in the heavy-water military

reactors at the Savannah River Site• Now produced by TVA nuclear weapons

operations• Tritium boosts the explosive power of nuclear

weapons and is the “hydrogen” in the H-Bomb

Tritium gas is used in all nuclear weapons

Tritium reservoirs

Watts Bar Unit 1 nuclear weapons factory:Watts Bar Nuclear Bomb Reactor (WBNBR)

– started producing tritium in 2004

Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rod (TPBAR)

Nuclear weapons facility at the Savannah River Site: Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF)

Proliferation whitewash & the thin gray line between military and civilian fuel cycles

“INTERAGENCY REVIEW OF THE NONPROLIFERATION IMPLICATIONS OF ALTERNATIVE TRITIUM PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES UNDER CONSIDERATION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY” - A REPORT TO THE CONGRESS, JULY 1998Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson gave the go-ahead to produce nuclear bomb materials in a civilian reactor – Way to go Bill! What a lesson to the world!

“TVA RESTRICTED INFORMATION”Office of the Inspector General

“TVA'S TRITIUM PROGRAM UNDER DOE/TVA INTERAGENCYAGREEMENT DE-A102-00DP00315” – May 16, 2011

• DOE ripping off TVA for tritium services? MOX rip-off to come?

• We were unable to determine if tritium production costs were accurately identified and invoiced or if any negative impacts on plant operation from tritium production were reimbursed by DOE due to inadequate documentation. Specifically,Nuclear Power Group (NPG) management:

• Had incomplete accounting data.• Negotiated rates that did not accurately reflect NPG's anticipated costs.• Did not address $9 million in under-recovered overhead identified in the• Previous Office of the Inspector General audit on the tritium agreement.• Did not invoice standby payments and overhead in compliance with

agreement terms.• Did not identify all additional operating costs caused by tritium production.• Did not have support for $22.9 million in expenses and an unknown amount

of revenues.• Misclassified revenue.

“Supplemental EIS for the Production of Tritium in a Commercial Light Water Reactor (DOE/EIS-0288-S1)”

• SEIS notice – September 28, 2011• Expand tritium production in Watts Bar and Sequoyah to 2500

TPBARs per cycle (18 months/cycle)• Analyze impact of increased tritium permutation from the rods

into reactor cooling water• No Action alternative – keep producing in WBNBR only• Single meeting in Athens, TN – Oct. 20, 2011• Groups here signed on to comments for the record• Draft EIS “schedule under development” (DOE 6/2012)

• Stay tuned for meeting and comments on draft SEIS