France declares its 2012 stocks of civilian plutonium and HEU

France submitted a declaration of its civilian plutonium and HEU holdings as of December 31, 2012 - INFCIRC/549/Add.5/17. According to the document, at the end of 2012 France had 42.4 tonnes of unirradiated separated plutonium stored at reprocessing plants, 7.1 tonnes held up in the fuel fabrication process, 30.6 tonnes in unirradiated MOX fuel, and 0.5 tonnes described as "held elsewhere" - it is the material that is held up in the reprocessing plant and located at research facilities. Of the total of 80.6 tonnes, 22.2 tonnes is foreign material. Less than 50 kg of French plutonium is held outside of the country. No material was in transit. At the end of 2011, France had 80.3 tonnes of separated plutonium, of which 22.8 tonnes were foreign material.

In addition, France estimates that about 110.6 tonnes of plutonium is contained in spent fuel stored at reactor sites, 144.4 tonnes - in spent fuel at the reprocessing plant, and 6.4 tonnes - in spent fuel "held elsewhere." The total amount of plutonium in spent fuel is therefore 261.4 tonnes, an increase compared to the 250.2 tonnes declared in 2011.

The declaration also describes France's civilian HEU stock. At the end of 2012 France had 968 kg of HEU at fuel fabrication plants, 1,819 kg at civilian reactor sites, 428 kg at research facilities, 123 kg as irradiated HEU at civilian reactor sites, and 1,406 kg of irradiated HEU at other facilities.