2014 civilian plutonium (and HEU) reports submitted to IAEA

As of October 8, 2015, the IAEA had published as INFCIRC/549 documents reports by eight out of nine countries that submit annual civilian plutonium declarations. The new declarations reflect the status of civilian plutonium stock as of 31 December 2014. [UPDATED 11/12/15 There is no report yet for the United States].

  1. Japan (INFCIRC/549/Add.1/18) reported having 10.8 tonnes of plutonium in the country and 37.0 tonnes abroad (the 2013 numbers were 10.8 and 36.3 tonnes respectively). In July 2015 Japan also released a more detailed internal version of this report, "The Status of Plutonium Management in Japan".

  2. Germany (INFCIRC/549/Add.2/18) reported 2.1 tonnes of separated plutonium in the country (3.0 tonnes in 2013). Germany does not report separated plutonium outside of the country.

  3. Belgium (INFCIRC/549/Add.3/14) reported 900 kg of separated plutonium, all of it belonging to foreign bodies (1400 kg in 2013).

  4. Switzerland (INFCIRC/549/Add.4/19) declared "less than 50 kg" of separated plutonium "held elsewhere" (no change from 2013).

  5. France (INFCIRC/549/Add.5/19) declared 78.8 tonnes of separated plutonium, of which 16.9 tonnes belong to foreign bodies (78.1 and 17.9 in 2013).

  6. The United States (INFCIRC/549/Add.6/18) reported having 49.0 tonnes of separated plutonium. No changes have been made compared to the 2013 report.

  7. China (INFCIRC/549/Add.7/14) reported 25.4 kg of separated plutonium (an increase from 13.8 kg in 2013). It's the first increase of the amount of separated plutonium since 2010, when China first declared 13.8 kg. [UPDATE 12/14/15: The additional plutonium came from the processing of a solution that had been created in 2010.]

  8. The United Kingdom (INFCIRC/549/Add.8/18) declared 126.3 tonnes of civilian plutonium, of which 23.0 tonnes belong to foreign bodies (123.0 and 23.4 in 2013).

  9. Russia's report (INFCIRC/549/Add.9/17) probably contains an error - it declares 5200 kg of separated plutonium in storage at reprocessing plants. The number reported in this category in 2013 was 50300 kg. There is no other ready explanation for the decrease in the amount of the material in the report. The amount of material in other two categories - plutonium in unirradiated MOX and plutonium stored elsewhere - has not changed since 2013. Russia reported the total of 1600 kg in 2014 and 2013 (300 and 1300 kg in 2014 and 400 and 1200 kg in 2013). UPDATE: Yes, it was indeed an error - IPFM has learned that the amount of plutonium that was meant to be declared is on the order of 50 tonnes. Given that Russia has been annually separating from 700 to 1,100 kg, most likely the correct number is 51,200 kg, corresponding to an increase of 900 kg. The number will be updated as soon as Russia issues a correction. [UPDATE: In its 2015 report Russia stated that in 2014 it had 52000 kg of Pu in storage at reprocessing plants.]

I addition to reporting plutonium stocks, three countries also submit data on their civilian HEU:

Germany reported 0.3 tonnes of HEU in research reactor fuel, 0.93 tonnes of HEU in irradiated research reactor fuel, and 0.03 tonnes in the category "HEU held elsewhere." The numbers in 2013 were 0.27, 9.3, 0.03 respectively.

France declared the total of 4,653 kg of HEU, of which 3,045 kg is unirradiated (4,717 and 3,114 kg in 2013).

The United Kingdom reported 1,398 kg of HEU, of which 1,261 kg is unirradiated (1,398 and 1,256 in 2013).