Burning Pu in commercial nuke reactors

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

The article below discusses the US plan to halt nuclear weapons in 
part by burning the Pu in commercial nuclear reactors. The plan also 
involves negotiations with the Rissians.. Very intriguing. Would make 
for a great movie.
-------------------------

  WASHINGTON  - The Clinton administration's  
controversial plan to halt nuclear weapons in part by burning 
plutonium in commercial nuclear reactors hinges on the success 
of negotiations with Russia to reduce stockpiles of the 
substance, an Energy Department official said Monday. 
  ``If we can't get a deal negotiated with the Russians in  
eight or nine years, then I don't think we're going to do 
anything with our plutonium but store it ... because we'll never be
able to sell up on the (Capitol) Hill spending a lot of money to do
something with ours unilaterally,'' Howard Canter, the Energy
Department's acting director of the Office of Fissile Materials
Disposal, said. 
  Canter appeared before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to  
discuss the administration's plan to dispose of 50 tons of 
surplus plutonium from the nuclear weapons program by 
immobilizing part of it in glass or ceramic containers, and 
blending the rest into a fuel to be used in utilities' 
commercial power reactors. 
  Nuclear arms control advocates have criticized the plan to  
use the plutonium in a nuclear reactor mix-oxide, or ``MOX'' 
fuel, saying it perpetuates a commercial market for the weapons 
ingredient and is contrary to U.S. policies of 
non-proliferation. 
  Energy Department officials have said they need to keep the  
MOX option because Russia views its plutonium as an asset, not 
something that should be scrapped. They said the United States 
will try to negotiate with Russia to keep the plutonium from 
being reprocessed after it is used in reactor fuel. 
  ``They feel very strongly that they've spent a national  
treasure creating it and they want to get some economic value 
back. If we are going to play a role in dictating how that's 
done, then we're going to have to be in the arena, and that's 
another reason for the dual-track strategy,'' Canter said. 
  ``I could see a negotiation where we end up with the worst  
of all possible worlds. We're on a MOX track in part of our 
program. The Russians are on a major MOX track with no 
constraints,'' NRC commissioner Edward McGaffigan said. 
  But Canter said it would be eight or nine years before a  
plant to make the MOX fuel was built and utilities were ready to use
the fuel, so the United States could use that time to see whether
Russia will put limits on its plutonium use that Washington finds
acceptable. 
  U.S. utilities back the MOX fuel plan, saying it would be a  
productive way to help use up the material. 
  The Energy Department has said it would not reprocess the  
MOX fuel or extract plutonium from the spent fuel, and that the 
MOX would be fabricated in a domestic, government-owned 
facility. 

Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
Office: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2306 
Fax: (714) 668-3149

E-Mail: sandyfl@ix.netcom.com    

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