Page 203 - Neutrons for Sciences and Society

Chapter 8 - The Dark Years
his reactor was adapted to use the lower enrichment as soon as possible. In the case of the ILL the use of such medium enriched uranium would be very difficult, if not impossible. In addition the ILL management did not want to be constrained by the yoke of the USA, and turned towards the Russian market, accessible after the collapse of the USSR.
At this point the leaders of the CEA, who had to guarantee the supply of fuel for the Orphée research reactor at Saclay, took over the negotiations. A contract written in 93-94 was finally signed on 19 April 1996. It foresaw three successive deliveries of 165 kg at three yearly intervals covering the needs of the ILL for 9 years. The delivery was repeatedly delayed and at the end of 1997 the officials turned again to the USA. This implied complying with the Schumer amendment, i.e. engaging a commitment to change the reactor if it proves possible to achieve the same performance with low-enriched uranium. A memorandum was thus signed
at the end of 1998 between the USA State Department and the ILL with, of course, the agreement of the governments of the three partners. Then the Russians, with whom contacts had been maintained, delivered 227 kg of uranium (of which 165 kg was for the ILL) two months after signing the memorandum with the USA. The following deliveries foreseen in the contract took place normally. To understand the prevarications it is useful to remember that Russia and the USA were in negotiation to refine concrete measures to limit the spread of nuclear weapons112.
112 The negotiations are analysed in the book “De Tchernobyl en tchernobyls” by Charpak G., Garwin R.L. and Journé V. 2nd edition, Paris: Odile Jacob (2005) ISBN-10-2738113745.
194