BIS to Control Certain Exports of Deuterium

The export control jurisdiction for exports of deuterium for non-nuclear end-uses will transfer from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Bureau of Industry and Security, BIS said in notice. While those exports will be controlled under the Export Administration Regulations, BIS stressed that deuterium exports intended for nuclear end-uses will still be subject to the NRC’s export licensing jurisdiction. BIS has been considering the change, which will take effect Dec. 6, since at least June (see 2109240011).

BIS said it wanted to add the item to the EAR partly because the deuterium market has “significantly expanded and evolved beyond nuclear reactor use” in the last decade, and the amount of exported deuterium has “steadily increased.” It is used to produce a range of goods that BIS would normally seek to control, including advanced electronics, deuterated solvents, deuterated pharmaceuticals, hydrogen arc-lamps, neutron generators and tracers in hydrological, biological and medical studies.

As a result, a “growing number” of companies have needed to apply for specific licenses, because the quantity of exports has exceeded general license quantity thresholds, BIS said. In a notice released in conjunction with BIS, the NRC said its “recent licensing experience” shows that deuterium has been exported “almost exclusively for nonnuclear industrial and research end use, prompting the reevaluation of NRC licensing requirements.” The agency also said, under its licensing authority, it hasn’t seen exports of deuterium diverted for illegal uses, including to produce weapons-grade material in “unsafeguarded” nuclear activities.

BIS said other nations that supply deuterium also impose export restrictions, but they’re limited to exports for use in a nuclear reactor. Similar restrictions are imposed by the multilateral Nuclear Exporters Committee, also known as the Zangger Committee, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

“To the extent that any risk of diversion may exist, exports of deuterium for non-nuclear end use will continue to be controlled by the Department of Commerce,” the NRC said, “and appropriate control mechanisms exist within national regulatory authorities and the international community to detect efforts to divert deuterium for known illicit purposes.”

BIS will control exports and reexports of deuterium for non-nuclear end use under the Nuclear Proliferation (NP) Column 2 of the EAR, and a license will be required for all destinations controlled for NP 2 reasons. The agency will also impose “restrictive” license requirements for exports that involve end-uses and end-users that would be “contrary to U.S. export control interests,” including to companies and people on the Entity List. BIS said the NRC “took this robust control structure under the EAR into account when determining that appropriate destination, end-user, and end-use based controls will be in place to appropriately control the deuterium for nonnuclear end use.”

The NRC said it will retain licensing authority for exports of “plants for the production, separation, or purification of heavy water, deuterium and deuterium compounds and especially designed or prepared assemblies or components for these plants.” It will also amend its regulations to revise the definition of deuterium to clarify which exports it controls, and plans to contact existing deuterium licensees over the next 60 days “to ensure an uninterrupted transition from one regulatory authority to another.” The agency said the change “will pose no unreasonable risk to the public health and safety or the common defense and security.”