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Bloomberg Printer-Friendly Page: "Bush's Budget Seeks $250 Mln for Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plan
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration, reversing a 29-year-old government policy, is seeking to reprocess the waste produced by nuclear reactors in the U.S. and other nations.
The administration requested $250 million in the budget it unveiled today for development of a process to reduce and recycle radioactive waste. The process would foster expansion of nuclear power in the U.S. by reducing by 80 percent the amount of waste sent to the storage site in Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
The proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership would also take spent fuel from other nations, addressing growing concern about the proliferation of nuclear weapons by keeping the capability to enrich and recycle nuclear material in U.S. hands, according to budget documents released today.
The program would ``facilitate the expansion of civilian nuclear power in the United States and encourage civilian nuclear power in foreign countries to evolve in a more proliferation-resistant manner,'' according to the budget.
Soaring energy prices and signs that oil and natural-gas supplies are lagging behind demand has spurred new interest in nuclear power. At the same time, the dispute with Iran over its intent to enrich uranium has added urgency to proposals to control the spread of nuclear materials. Iran's case was referred two days ago to the United Nations Security Council.
Plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel can be used in weapons, and concern about the spread of such material caused President Jimmy Carter in 1977 to scuttle funding for nuclear reprocessing. The method envisioned by the Bush administration would create reactor fuel that could not be used in weapons.
New Process
Unlike the chemical reprocessing used today in France, the U.K. and Japan, the new technology would not produce pure plutonium, the government said. ``The plutonium would"
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration, reversing a 29-year-old government policy, is seeking to reprocess the waste produced by nuclear reactors in the U.S. and other nations.
The administration requested $250 million in the budget it unveiled today for development of a process to reduce and recycle radioactive waste. The process would foster expansion of nuclear power in the U.S. by reducing by 80 percent the amount of waste sent to the storage site in Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
The proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership would also take spent fuel from other nations, addressing growing concern about the proliferation of nuclear weapons by keeping the capability to enrich and recycle nuclear material in U.S. hands, according to budget documents released today.
The program would ``facilitate the expansion of civilian nuclear power in the United States and encourage civilian nuclear power in foreign countries to evolve in a more proliferation-resistant manner,'' according to the budget.
Soaring energy prices and signs that oil and natural-gas supplies are lagging behind demand has spurred new interest in nuclear power. At the same time, the dispute with Iran over its intent to enrich uranium has added urgency to proposals to control the spread of nuclear materials. Iran's case was referred two days ago to the United Nations Security Council.
Plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel can be used in weapons, and concern about the spread of such material caused President Jimmy Carter in 1977 to scuttle funding for nuclear reprocessing. The method envisioned by the Bush administration would create reactor fuel that could not be used in weapons.
New Process
Unlike the chemical reprocessing used today in France, the U.K. and Japan, the new technology would not produce pure plutonium, the government said. ``The plutonium would"
posted by Greta Jane at Thursday, February 09, 2006
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