Excess WPu Disposition

["K. K. S. Pillay" <s_pillay@lanl.gov>]

EXCESS WEAPONS PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION

The opinion expressed here are solely my own.

There have been many snippets on this list server and else where about DOE's preferred alternative for the disposition of excess weapons plutonium.  After seeing bits and pieces, I have decided to put in my two cents worth for general information of colleagues who view these pages.

On December 9th, the Secretary of Energy announced a well thought out and prudent effort to remove excess weapons plutonium from the dismantlement of weapons from the U.S. And the states of the Former Soviet Union.  This was done after detailed examination of issues by the National Academy of Sciences and after detailed public examination of 37 different options as part of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.  The Secretary's proposal is to evaluate two options for the next two years ( MOX use in existing LWRs and vitrification and burial as glass or ceramic) and make a final decision.  Long before that announcement,  the doom sayers on the beltway has been spreading blatant lies about the security problems of using MOX in reactors.  These guys have been making a good living bad mouthing everything nuclear and it is high time the tax payers of this nation came out in support of a sensible alternative and put the doom sayers in the welfare roll.  Some of the OSTP and ACDA characters have joined the fray recently and is using this for a popularity contest.  We understand from the AIP list server, some of the Congressmen are coaxed into writing letters to the White House to go with the vitrification option.  There is no letter writing campaigns to benefit the tax payers yet.

The tax payers have spent over $2 millon/Kg of the weapons-garde plutonium in the U.S.  Using some of it to produce energy would be a desirable alternative to get some investments back.  The DOE' estimate is that by the year 2020, the cost of electricity will more than quadruple from the present average 7 cents/kwh.  Year 2020 is the estimated time when disposition will really take place, if all agreements with the Russians materialize.  


Some of the realities are:

1. There is no ratification of START-II yet.  

2. The Russians have not agreed to a common strategy with the US to dispose of Pu in a parallel effort.  (There is a sensible agreement for the disposition of excess HEU).

3. There are plenty of resources in the US to undertake the MOX option.
There are people who worked at various US Pu facilities, including a MOX facility at Hanford, who are out of work.  Also, there is a 90% complete MOX fuel fabrication facility kept in moth balls, which can easily be revived).

4. The Russians are determined to use Pu as an energy resource or legally use Pu as a resource for hard currency.

5. The Russians are opposed to vitrification and burial unilaterally by the US. They are of the opinion that vitrification does not change the isotopic composition of Pu and it is relatively easy to recover the weapons-grade plutonium, if needed at a future date.  Thus, Russians would consider the strategy of unilateral vitrification and disposal as a diversion strategy to hide weapons Pu.

The blatant lies about security risks are the biggest hoax perpetrated by the doom sayers of Washington beltway.  US and Russia are the two nations with the best safeguards records for nuclear materials during the past 55 years.  Yes, Russia has changed and there are potentials for problems.  That is no reason to choose a Hara-Kiri option to throw away valuable resources by the US.

Recent events reported about nuclear material diversion from Russia is primarily a xenophobic reaction by the US media and a few vested interests who are making money fixing the so-called problem.  US investments of about $470 million to fix safeguards problems in Russia has attracted a lot of parasites from both sides and they want the US tax payers to keep spending money for ever!  

Those of you who watched "LOOSE NUKES" on PBS may remember that there was no hard evidence about any major theft reported during the entire program.  Yes, there were few grams of something or other stolen.  The biggest hoax was the finger printing of plutonium mentioned by the so-called German expert.  That was pure hogwash.   PBS deliberately did not report the actions of German courts in throwing out two major allegations because the courts found that those thefts were contrived by some of the security agencies of two European nations.  This was reported in Nuclear News and else where.

Once again friends, this is my personal opinion based on my detailed observation of facts.