French civilian plutonium and HEU in 2013

France submitted a declaration of its civilian plutonium and HEU holdings as of December 31, 2013 - INFCIRC/549/Add.5/18. According to the document, at the end of 2013 France had 43.2 tonnes of unirradiated separated plutonium stored at reprocessing plants, 6.6 tonnes held up in the fuel fabrication process, 27.7 tonnes in unirradiated MOX fuel, and 0.6 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 78.1 tonnes, 17.9 tonnes is foreign material. Less than 50 kg of French plutonium is held outside of the country. No material was in transit. In its 2012 declaration, France reported having the total of 80.6 tonnes of separated plutonium, of which 22.2 tonnes were foreign material.

In addition, France estimates that about 115.2 tonnes of plutonium is contained in spent fuel stored at reactor sites, 147.3 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 268.9 tonnes, an increase compared to the 261.4 tonnes declared in 2012.

The declaration also describes France's civilian HEU stock. At the end of 2012 France had 860 (968 in 2012) kg of HEU at fuel fabrication plants, 413 (1,819) kg at civilian reactor sites, 1841 (428) kg at research facilities, 106 (123) kg as irradiated HEU at civilian reactor sites, and 1,497 (1,406) kg of irradiated HEU at other facilities.