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Re: What Should We Do With Plutonium Once Nuclear Weapons Are



That is exactly what was proposed (making MOX with the plutonium) in a report 
(Reactor Alternative Summary Report) for which I was the lead editor of Vol. 
1 in 1996.  Vol. 1 explored the alternative of using existing light water 
reactors in the U.S. and was published by Lockheed Martin Energy Systems for 
DOE.  The authors of Vol. 1 were S. R. Greene and B. B. Bevard.  (If you 
search on "Reactor Alternative Summary Report" at northernlight.com, hit no. 
3 is the document I'm talking about.)

The idea made sense to me:  considering all the time, money, and human cost 
that went into this plutonium, why not convert it to a form that would make 
it less of a security risk and then put it to some good use?  The chief 
problem is that I do not trust DOE and its contractors to design and manage 
such an operation.  For that matter, who CAN we trust to do it?

Pam Gillis Watson
DOE subcontractor worker
Oak Ridge, TN
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