United States to continue supplying HEU for Mo-99 production in Europe

U.S. Department of Energy submitted a license application (XSNM3788) to export 1.45 kg of HEU to France, where it will be used to manufacture targets used in Mo-99 production. The application requests a license to export "1.35 kg uranium-235 contained in maximum of 1.45 kg uranium, enriched to maximum 93.35%, in the form of unalloyed broken metal." The material will be shipped to the Areva plant in Romans. The targets produced there will be irradiated in the following reactors: BR-2 (Belgium), HFR Petten (The Netherlands), LVR-15 (Czech Republic), and Maria (Poland). Institute for Radioelements (IRE) in Belgium, where the targets will be reprocessed, is listed as the ultimate destination of the material.

A similar license, XSNM3776, was requested in July 2016 and approved in August 2017 (after surviving a challenge by Alan Kuperman).

UPDATE: The license XSNM3788 was issued on March 20, 2018.