This sounds like it might eventually have positive implications for FFTF too....
Jaro
NucNet News No. 249
US Announces Plans for Major New Nuclear R&D Centre
The US energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, has announced plans to transform one
of the country's national scientific laboratories into the leading US centre for
nuclear energy research and development.
Mr Abraham said the major new initiative would see the Idaho National
Environmental and Engineering Laboratory (INEEL) take the leading role in several
key projects - in particular the Generation IV advanced nuclear technology
programme and the development of advanced nuclear fuel cycle technologies.
The announcement, which comes shortly after the US Congress gave the go-ahead
for construction of a national spent fuel repository at Yucca Mountain,
represents another major demonstration of government support for the nuclear
industry - and of the Bush administration's commitment to its own Nuclear Power
2010 initiative (see News No. 68, 15th February).
Under the plan, which will also involve the Argonne National Laboratory West,
oversight of INEEL will be transferred from the Department of Energy's (DOE)
office of environmental management to the office of nuclear energy, science and
technology. The transition will be 'jump-started' by an initial investment of 5
million US dollars.
Mr Abraham also directed the head of the nuclear energy office, Bill Magwood, to
launch a 90-day review of the US nuclear energy infrastructure, to "identify the
facilities and capabilities needed to support the administration's goal of
expanding the use of nuclear energy in the US".
Said Mr Abraham: "INEEL and Argonne National Laboratory West will be the
centrepiece of DOE's efforts to broaden the role of nuclear energy in our
nation's energy future."
With regard to the Generation IV programme, which aims to develop and deploy
advanced next-generation reactor and fuel cycle technologies by about year 2030,
he said: "While the second and third generation reactors we've relied on for
several decades are adequate for today's purposes, we envision a new era of
nuclear energy marked by enhanced safety, improved waste reduction, better
economic performance and, perhaps most importantly, improved physical security
and proliferation resistance."
Mr Abraham added: "This focus on national security is one element of another new
mission for INEEL. So today I am announcing the establishment of the Idaho
Advanced Fuel Cycle Technology Initiative, with the aim of transforming and
optimising our approach to the management of spent nuclear fuel."
This initiative would "be the focal point for developing and demonstrating
separation technologies for treating and reducing spent nuclear fuel and high
level waste" - technologies that would not only be important for long-term energy
security, but would lower the ultimate cost of disposal, minimise "proliferation
risks", and "dramatically reduce" the toxicity of spent fuel.
Mr Abraham added that INEEL would be "counted on to develop advanced fuel
transportation systems and practices capable of withstanding not just accidents
but sabotage or assault by terrorists", as well as developing the "next
generation" of dry spent fuel storage technologies and waste acceptance criteria
for advanced fuel forms.
Source: DOE