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DOE Officials Promote Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing
U.S. Energy Department officials yesterday promoted reprocessing of spent nuclear reactor fuel as a way to deter nuclear proliferation and lengthen the service life of the planned Yucca Mountain waste depository in Nevada, The Salt Lake Tribune reported (see GSN, April 26). Directors from the nine U.S. national laboratories discussed the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (see GSN, March 16) with congressional staff members and reporters yesterday, the Tribune reported. The plan would enable reprocessing plants to recycle spent nuclear fuel for use again in commercial power reactors. Lawmakers, scientists and the energy industry must all support the plan if it is to succeed, said Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell. “We must start now so that 10 years from now the United States has options that it now can only dream of,” said Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.). “This initiative provides options for our energy future.” Opponents note that reprocessing historically has cost significantly more than mining or enriching new nuclear fuel, and that existing processes create weaponizable plutonium. “This is an unworkable, wishful-thinking plan that has been attempted and abandoned in the past and is now being repackaged,” said Leonor Tomero of the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. Idaho National Laboratory chief John Grossenbacher said the program cost could not be identified until the size of the effort is known. The White House is seeking $250 million for the program in fiscal 2007. Domenici said he would include the funding in the Energy Department budget (Robert Gehrke, The Salt Lake Tribune, May 3).
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