[cdn-nucl-l] [Fwd: What to do with Plutonium]

[Randal Leavitt <randal.leavitt@rogers.com>]

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7029

Commission Staff Calls Risks of Proposed Plutonium Conversion Plant 
Minimal

January 31, 2005 - By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The government moved a step closer Friday to gaining 
approval to dispose of 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium by turning 
it into a less dangerous fuel for commercial power reactors.

The staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended that the 
commission approve licenses for building a plant at the federal 
Savannah River complex in South Carolina where the plutonium would be 
processed into a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel.

Some environmentalists and nuclear nonproliferation advocates have 
opposed the conversion plans, arguing plutonium should not be used to 
make commercial reactor fuel and that, instead, the weapons-grade 
material should be encased in glass and buried.

While the NRC staff acknowledged a severe accident at the proposed 
facility could cause additional latent cancer fatalities among workers 
and the public, it said "the likelihood of such an accident occurring 
is expected to be very low, highly unlikely."

"The overall benefits of the proposed MOX facility outweigh its 
disadvantages and cost," the NRC staff concluded in a final 
environmental impact report on the proposed project. The commission is 
expected to decide in the coming months whether to issue a 
construction license -- and later, an operating permit -- for the 
facility.

The conversion to mixed-oxide fuel is a key part of the Bush 
administration's effort to safeguard the tons of excess weapons-grade 
plutonium held by both the United States and Russia and reduce the 
risks of the material being obtained by terrorists or a rogue state.

Under an agreement with Russia, the United States plans to blend 34 
tons of U.S. plutonium no longer needed for warheads with depleted 
uranium so it can no longer be used in a bomb and can be used in a 
commercial power reactor. Russia would also build a conversion plant 
for 34 tons of its excess plutonium.

The Energy Department had hoped to begin building the conversion plant 
at Savannah River later this year, but construction has been held up 
because of complications that have delayed construction of a facility 
in Russia.

Tom Clements, an adviser to Greenpeace International on nuclear 
issues, called the NRC staff report "woefully inadequate" and 
criticized its dismissal of health and environmental risks should 
there be a release of radiation.

"They have to plan for the eventuality that there is some kind of 
accident," said Clements. "Basically the have just waved it off as 
something being acceptable."

The NRC staff report said the primary benefit of the conversion 
program would be the reduction in the amount of excess plutonium under 
storage. It concluded that converting the material to a 
reactor-suitable mixed-oxide fuel is safer than continued storage of 
surplus plutonium.

The report said the routine operation of a conversion plant and 
proposed support facilities would pose virtually no radiological risk 
to people or the environment within 50 miles of the complex.

But it acknowledged an accidental release of radioactive tritium from 
a plutonium disassembly facility to be built as part of the project 
could cause between three and 100 additional latent cancer fatalities, 
with higher estimates if contaminated food is eaten.

"However, it is regarded as highly unlikely that such an accident 
would occur and the risk to any population, including low-income and 
minority communities, is considered to be low," concluded the NRC 
staff report.

Source: Associated Press
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Randal Leavitt        gnupg public key: bbbad04d
Registered User 267646 at http://counter.li.org/