A friend posted this on another listserv....
Jaro
Posted in the Hanford News on May 16, 2002 and at:
http://www.hanfordnews.com/2002/0516-1.html
National nuclear operator explores taking over FFTF
This story was published Thu, May 16, 2002
By Annette Cary Herald staff writer
One of the nation's largest nuclear operators is looking at the
possibility of operating Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility.
A representative of Entergy Nuclear visiting the Tri-Cities this week
said much more information is needed and no decision has been made about
the future of the mothballed research reactor.
"But we do see the viability of FFTF," said Jeff Mahan, who does
business development work for Entergy.
Benton County Commissioner Claude Oliver said he expected to make an
announcement about corporate interest in FFTF this week, but Oliver and
Mahan declined to say if it involved Entergy.
Entergy, based in New Orleans, operates and owns nine nuclear power
plants in the South and Northeast and is expected to soon begin
operating a 10th, Vermont Yankee.
Supporters of FFTF have been looking for private companies interested in
using the reactor to produce isotopes for medicine and other industrial
uses, because the Republican and Democratic administrations said the
government has no use for it. Both have ordered it permanently shut down.
A coalition of local governments led by Oliver, the Benton County
Commission chairman, and Citizens for Medical Isotopes have been looking
for private companies interested in the reactor. The two groups hope
that if they put together a plan for commercial use of the reactor, the
federal government essentially will declare it surplus and allow it to be used privately.
However, time is running out.
Backers have said they need to have the plan pulled together in June,
because work to close down the reactor permanently already has begun.
"Many of the support systems have been shut down, but not the crucial
ones," said Wanda Munn of Citizens for Medical Isotopes.
Once sodium is drained from the reactor's cooling system, the reactor
probably never can be started again.
Its supporters also are continuing to push government officials to reconsider restarting the reactor.
Carolyn Oakley, regional representative for the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, will tour the reactor today. On Wednesday,
she learned more about advances in the use of isotopes to treat cancer and other diseases.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this spring approved using
radioactive isotopes to treat breast cancer. After a tumor is removed,
radioactive isotopes are inserted into the breast to kill any remaining cancer cells.
The procedure is less costly and does not cause the burns that
conventional radiation treatment does. The process also takes five days instead of six weeks.
Such new medical uses increase demand for isotopes, which could be made
at FFTF. Already, some isotopes are in short supply. They include both
isotopes used for medical research into new cancer treatments and such
isotopes as thallium 201, which is widely used to diagnose cardiac problems.
Most isotopes are imported into the United States, and shortages have grown worse since Sept. 11.
Oakley, who is Secretary Tommy Thompson's representative for the
Northwest, said she would be sending a positive message about FFTF back to Washington, D.C.
"I know there is a real need, and I was disappointed the administration said it is time to wind down the program," she said.
She called medical isotopes "the wave of the future."
Supporters also are getting more support from organized labor.
Boeing aerospace machinists are lobbying the Washington congressional
delegation this week to restart FFTF. Of particular concern is language
in the Senate Energy Bill that would delay a restart. Union officials
are asking that language be removed when House and Senate versions of the bill are reconciled.
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