Nuclear Materials

Plans underway to cut the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile by about 75 percent from 1988 levels will strongly affect future demand for tritium, a gaseous radioactive isotope of hydrogen used to boost the power of nuclear warheads. Because tritium decays yearly, it must be periodically replenished to maintain the potency of the warheads. This report provides information on (1) the impact of nuclear stockpile reductions on the Department of Energy's (DOE) tritium supply and (2) DOE's alternatives for meeting tritium requirements and for providing a contingency in the event that requirements increase.

GAO found that: (1) the 5-year tritium reserve and tritium recovered from dismantled nuclear weapons will meet tritium requirements until 2012, however, a new tritium source will be required to service the reduced arsenal and replenish the reserve; (2) the four tritium production alternatives that DOE has considered include three reactor technologies and a particle accelerator which will take 12 to 15 years to design, construct, and begin tritium production; (3) since DOE abandoned its plans to restart its reactor at its Savannah River site, it will use a commercial light-water reactor as an interim source if additional tritium supplies are needed; (4) DOE does not have an agreement with any utility to use its reactor for tritium production; and (5) other possible tritium sources include DOE test and research reactors, foreign countries, and detritiated heavy-water.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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