Resende INB update

A reader (thanks AT) pointed me towards this very informative slideshow on operations at Resende. Turns out the enrichment plant is co-located with the pellet production facility. There is even a floor-plan in one of the slides. Co-location, for some reason, never occurred to me.



I wish other enriching states would show similar levels of transparency.

Resende to start operations

On 14 January 2009, World Nuclear News reported that the Brazilians will start commercial scale operations at its uranium enrichment plant in Resende as early as next month. The country will operate a new type of centrifuge that reportedly uses active electromagnetic bearings to reduce friction to zero.

The Brazilian centrifuge was developed under the leadership of Admiral Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, an MIT graduate, who reportedly focussed on using active electromagnetic rotors from the beginning. The first generation of machines used maraging steel rotors, but this generation was replaced in the mid 1990s by the present type of centrifuge. This machine comprises a slightly less than two meter tall supercritical carbon fiber rotor. The big secret, reportedly, is the control system for the centrifuge which, according to the chief designer measures 'the gap and act on the currents flowing through the electromagnets'.

There is no data on the centrifuge's effectiveness. Open source estimates range from 5-10 SWU and the Brazilians themselves hint that the machine is capable of slightly more than that. The bearing itself would have little impact on the machine's separative abilities. Rather, the length of the rotor and the tensile strength of the material is decisive. Unless the Brazilians aim to increase the height of the machine, they're not likely to hit double digits.

In October, a source told me that the test facility ran some 400-500 units and that each machine could handle between 7 and 8 separative work units per year, which would place it in the same league as URENCO's G3S series centrifuge. This is an older generation, and URENCO itself has surged way ahead with the introduction of its TC-series of centrifuges. In other words, the Brazilian machine is not terribly impressive, at least not yet.

Resende is located at 22°30'15.35"S 44°39'1.17"W. Through correlation with ground photographs, I've managed to identify the declared fuel element assembly plant and the conversion facility, which are supposed to be co-located with the enrichment plant. The buildings housing the centrifuges are yet to be identified.

In my mind, the grouping of white roofed buildings 100 meters west of the conversion facility and fuel pellet plant looks like a prime candidate for the pilot scale enrichment plant. The two buildings comprises enough floor space to comfortably house 500 centrifuges, including feed and withdrawal systems.

The IAEA is reportedly still not allowed to visually inspect the centrifuge area, but have put another mechanism in place that satisfies their safeguards needs. What safeguards measures are enacted precisely is not known, but is probably a modified hexapartite approach, with remote monitoring of the feed and withdrawal areas as well as sampling along agreed routes in the cascade hall. An unannounced inspection regime has also been agreed on.