nuclear-news

USA Dept of Energy wants to offload weapons plutonium onto commercial reactors

The Department of Energy is looking for ways to dispose of plutonium from nuclear weapons….Ed Lyman, senior staff scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the mixed-oxide fuel is “too dirty, dangerous and expensive.”

TVA hears public worries over Ala. plant plutonium – BusinessWeek, 4 Aug 2010, TANNER, Ala. A public hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority possibly using reprocessed weapons plutonium to power some reactors in north Alabama and Tennessee attracted about 70 people, many with questions about safety.

A TVA official at the Tuesday hearing in north Alabama said no decision has been made, but Republican state Rep. Mickey Hammon of Decatur told officials they have to “convince us this is safe.”

The Department of Energy is looking for ways to dispose of plutonium from nuclear weapons.

The DOE hearing at Tanner, along with one set Thursday in Chattanooga, are to gather comments about possibly using the materials for mixed-oxide fuel at TVA’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant and Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant……

TVA now uses reprocessed uranium for a type of fuel burned at Browns Ferry. It also irradiates tritium in a Watts Bar Nuclear Plant reactor to make weapons-grade materials for bombs.

State Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, said at the hearing that the community is his concern…..Ed Lyman, senior staff scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the mixed-oxide fuel is “too dirty, dangerous and expensive.”

August 5, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, reactors, reprocessing