Hello and welcome to the details of Trump plan to convert 20 tonnes of Cold War plutonium into nuclear fuel — critics call it ‘insanity’ and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - The Savannah River Site, a 310-square mile (198,046-acre) Department of Energy site, located in the sand-hills region of South Carolina shown in this aerial photo made available on July 27, 2012. The US Energy Department holds surplus plutonium at heavily guarded weapons facilities including Savannah River in South Carolina, Pantex in Texas, and Los Alamos in New Mexico. — National Nuclear Security Administration handout pic via Reuters
- Radioactive, fissile plutonium from Cold War a headache for US
- US wants to halt disposal of it, use 20 metric tonnes for fuel
- Trump administration sees it as potential fuel for new reactors
- Critic points out similar programme failed due to costs
WASHINGTON, Aug 24 — The Trump administration plans to make available about 20 metric tonnes of Cold War-era plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads to US power companies as a potential fuel for reactors, according to a source familiar with the matter and a draft memo outlining the plan.
Plutonium has previously only been converted to fuel for commercial US reactors in short-lived tests. The plan would follow through on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in May ordering the government to halt much of its existing programme to dilute and dispose of surplus plutonium, and instead provide it as a fuel for advanced nuclear technologies.
The Department of Energy, or DOE, plans to announce in coming days it will seek proposals from industry, said the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The source cautioned that because the plan is still a draft, its final details could change pending further discussions.
The plutonium would be offered to industry at little to no cost — with a catch. Industry will be responsible for costs of transportation, designing, building, and decommissioning DOE-authorised facilities to recycle, process and manufacture the fuel, the memo said.
The details on the volume of the plutonium, industry’s responsibilities in the plan and the potential timing of a US announcement, have not been previously reported. The 20 metric tonnes would be drawn from a larger, 34-metric-tonne stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium that the United States had previously committed to dispose of under a non-proliferation agreement with Russia in 2000.
The Department of Energy did not confirm or deny the Reuters reporting, saying only that the department is “evaluating a variety of strategies to build and strengthen domestic supply chains for nuclear fuel, including plutonium,” as directed by Trump’s orders.
Boosting the US power industry is a policy priority for the Trump administration as US electricity demand rises for the first time in two decades on the boom in data centres needed for artificial intelligence.
The idea of using surplus plutonium for fuel has raised concerns among nuclear safety experts who argue a previous similar effort failed.
Under the 2000 agreement, the plutonium was initially planned to be converted to mixed oxide fuel, or MOX, to run in nuclear power plants. But in 2018, the first Trump administration killed the contract for a MOX project that it said would have cost more than US$50 billion (RM211 billion).
The US Energy Department holds surplus plutonium at heavily guarded weapons facilities including Savannah River in South Carolina, Pantex in Texas, and Los Alamos in New Mexico. Plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years and must be handled with protective gear.
Until Trump’s May order, the US programme to dispose of the plutonium has involved blending it with an inert material and storing it in an experimental underground storage site called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
The Energy Department has estimated that burying the plutonium would cost US$20 billion.
“Trying to convert this material into reactor fuel is insanity. It would entail trying to repeat the disastrous MOX fuel programme and hoping for a different result,” said Edwin Lyman, a nuclear physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“The excess plutonium is a dangerous waste product and DOE should stick to the safer, more secure and far cheaper plan to dilute and directly dispose of it in WIPP.” — Reuters
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