Since Sept. 11, 2001, concern has increased that terrorists could smuggle nuclear weapons or materials into this country in the approx. 7 million containers that arrive annually at U.S. seaports. Nuclear materials can be smuggled across borders by being placed inside containers aboard cargo ships. In response to this concern, since 2003, the Dept. of Energy (DoE) has deployed radiation detection equipment to key foreign seaports through its Megaports Initiative. This report examined: (1) progress DoE has made in implementing the Megaports Initiative, (2) current & expected costs of the Initiative, & (3) challenges DoE faces in installing radiation detection equipment at foreign ports. Includes recommendations. Charts & tables.

Reviews the political and social context for nuclear power generation, the nuclear fuel cycles and their implications for the environment.

Nuclear Nonproliferation: DOE Needs to Consider Options to Accelerate the Return of Weapons-Usable Uranium from Other Countries to the United States and Russia

This book is the product of a congressionally mandated study to examine the feasibility of eliminating the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU2) in reactor fuel, reactor targets, and medical isotope production facilities. The book focuses primarily on the use of HEU for the production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), whose decay product, technetium-99m3 (Tc-99m), is used in the majority of medical diagnostic imaging procedures in the United States, and secondarily on the use of HEU for research and test reactor fuel. The supply of Mo-99 in the U.S. is likely to be unreliable until newer production sources come online. The reliability of the current supply system is an important medical isotope concern; this book concludes that achieving a cost difference of less than 10 percent in facilities that will need to convert from HEU- to LEU-based Mo-99 production is much less important than is reliability of supply.