STOP PLUTONIUM
FUEL
The US
Department of Energy plans to turn more than 36
tons of plutonium into commercial nuclear power
reactor fuel
UPDATE:
April 7, 2000 - Virginia
Power drops out of Plutonium Fuel Consortium.
Virginia Power has announced that it's dropping
its plans to burn Plutonium fuel at its North
Anna Nuclear Power Plant in Louisa County,
Virginia. Duke Energy has said it will stay in
the Plutonium fuel program.
We are at a
turning point in history. At the close of the
Cold War the United States has a toxic legacy
comprised of 50 tons of so-called surplus
plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads. The
US Department of Energy (DOE) plans to convert
most of the warheads into civilian nuclear
reactor fuel.
On March 22, 1999
DOE awarded a $130 million contract to design the
plutonium fuel plant to an industry group led by
Duke Engineering & Services. The group is led
by Duke Energy and includes Virginia Power,
French nuclear fuel manufacturer COGEMA, and
Stone & Webster. The utilities would use the
fuel at the Maguire and Catawba reactors near
Charlotte and the North Anna reactors in
Virginia.
Previously, DOE
designated South Carolina's Savannah River
complex as the preferred site for plutonium
disassembly and conversion of plutonium warheads
into fuel, also called MOX - a Mixed
OXide of plutonium and uranium.
In January, the
Nuclear Control Institute in Washington released
a study which says that the Energy Department
severely underestimated the safety risks of using
civilian power reactors to dispose of plutonium.
Dr. Edwin Lyman, an energy physicist and the
author of the report, said that in the event of a
severe reactor accident plutonium fuel would
release a much larger burst of highly radioactive
and toxic materials known as actinides including
plutonium, americium, cesium, and curium. This
could cause thousands of additional cancer deaths
in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Dr.
Lyman said, "Duke Power does not plan to
install additional control rods in its reactors,
or to place limits on the irradiation time of the
plutonium fuel. Duke is cutting corners in a way
which could seriously impact safety."
Don't Let the Southeast
Become Plutonium Alley
Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League opposes the use of
plutonium fuel in commercial nuclear power
reactors for environmental, public health, and
national security reasons. The reversal of a two
decade policy prohibiting the use of plutonium in
reactors would put a strategically valuable and
dangerous material, which is now in the hands of
the armed forces, under the control of electric
utilities. Ironically, this
swords-into-plowshares alchemy by DOE would not
reduce the nation's stockpile because it would
create new plutonium at a rate similar to its
destruction in a power reactor, yielding new
plutonium for old. When you add to this the
environmental consequences of plutonium
reprocessing and the additional risks of new
breeder reactors, you end up with an
environmental nightmare.
The financial
estimate of DOE's plutonium disposition project
runs into the billions. The price of a plutonium
oxide fuel fabrication plant at Savannah River
will cost taxpayers over one billion dollars. The
omnibus appropriations bill for FY99 contains
$225 million to upgrade Russian reactors and MOX
infrastructure. There is the question of a $900
million fuel credit from DOE for plutonium. To
this add the open-ended costs of direct subsidies
to domestic utilities for plutonium fuel. Before
this project goes any further, the DOE budget for
surplus plutonium disposition activities should
be suspended until we have a complete accounting
of the project.
Citizens have the right to know about
the costs and risks of a plutonium fuel economy
and MOX .
plutonium is not “burned”
MOX would be limited to about 1/3 of the fuel
core in light water reactors such as Catawba or
McGuire. Of the 20 kg of plutonium in the
MOX fuel assemblies, about 15 will remain after
irradiation. Plutonium is created in
nuclear reactors, even those using pure uranium
fuel. Therefore, the plutonium created in a
MOX fueled reactor will be nearly equivalent to
the plutonium destroyed during irradiation.
- Dr. William Wieda, 1997
mox fuel can be made into bombs
“Plutonium from the spent fuel could still
be chemically separated and similar plutonium was
used to make simple bombs in the
1960’s.”
- Scientific American, von Hippel et al, 1993
plutonium in reactors is a
“no-no”
“ The MOX option will undercut the
decades-long, bipartisan effort by the United
States to make clear that plutonium use for
commercial power generation is a
“no-no.” The Administration
intends to establish an infrastructure here in
the United States to burn “excess”
weapons plutonium in civilian power plants.
If this is done, our decades-old
non-proliferation policy will begin to unravel,
with perilous consequences. I strongly object to
the MOX plan.”
- Senator Jesse Helms April 27, 1999
Senate hearing on nonproliferation, arms control
and military issues
What can we do about it?
A blizzard of letters and calls to
officials. Feel free to use information in
this action alert.
1 - Call or write the US Department of
Energy. Ask for formal public hearings on
MOX to be held in cities near the nuclear
reactors selected for MOX: Charlotte NC ,
York SC, and Charlottesville VA.
Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson
1000 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20585
Fax (202) 586-4403
2 - Call or write Duke Energy and
Virginia Power and ask them to pull out of the
international business consortium which would
make and use MOX.
Duke Energy
Richard Priory, President & CEO
526 South Church St.
Charlotte, NC 28202-1904
phone (704) 594-6200
www.duke-energy.com
Virginia Power
Norman Askew, CEO
PO Box 26666
Richmond, VA 23261
phone (804) 273-3825/(804) 771-3000
(888) 667-3000
www.vapower.com
3 - Call or write your US Senators and
Representatives. Ask them to
support formal public hearings on MOX.
US House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
US Senate Washington, DC 20510
US Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121
4 - Call or write Governors of NC, SC or
VA. Ask them to support formal public hearings on
MOX.
Governor Jim Hunt toll-free (800) 662-7952
116 West Jones St. Raleigh, NC 27603-8001
fax: (919) 733-2120
Governor Jim Hodges (803) 734-9818
PO Box 11829 Columbia, SC 29211
fax: (803) 734-9413
Governor Jim Gilmore (804) 786-2211
Office of the Governor Richmond, VA 23219
fax: (804) 371-6351
For assistance and more information contact:
The BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE
PO Box 88 Glendale Springs, North Carolina
28629
(336) 982-2691 bredl@skybest.com
www.bredl.org
|
