U.S. to Consider 11 Sites for Reprocessing Plant

The U.S. Energy Department has selected 11 sites as candidates to house a future spent-fuel reprocessing facility and a prototype nuclear reactor to use the reprocessed fuel, the agency announced yesterday (see GSN, May 3).

The program is part of the Bush administration’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership initiative, which in part seeks to expand the uses of nuclear power.

“As our economy grows so will the need for reliable, emissions-free energy generation.  Nuclear energy can help meet that need and GNEP can do it in a way that maximizes the benefit of nuclear fuel while minimizing the risk of nuclear proliferation,” said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon in a press release.  “These selections are an important initial step in proceeding to evaluate and select locations to host GNEP facilities.”

Yesterday’s announcement said that operators of the 11 sites would receive up to $16 million to conduct studies assessing the feasibility of their locations for the program.

The sites are Atomic City, Idaho; Barnwell, S.C.; Hanford, Wash.; Hobbs, N.M.; Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho; Morris, Ill.; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tenn.; Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Ky.; Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Ohio; Roswell, N.M.; and Savannah River National Laboratory, S.C. (U.S. Energy Department release, Nov. 29).

The reprocessing initiative has faced criticism from both nuclear nonproliferation advocates (see GSN, March 16) and communities near the potential sites.

In Washington state, for example, local groups yesterday urged the administration to complete the cleanup of the Cold War-era Hanford site before embarking on new activities.

“They are wasting taxpayer money pursuing this,” said Gerry Pollet, executive director of the Hanford watchdog group Heart of America Northwest.  “The public insists that you clean up before you create more, and the state of Washington has the legal authority to say you can’t add more waste to Hanford’s problems” (Shannon Dininny, Associated Press/Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, Nov. 30).

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