Jul 27, 2006 -- STATE DEPARTMENT RELEASE/ContentWorks

The United States is on track to dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium -- capable of making thousands of nuclear warheads -- "by irradiating it as fuel in nuclear reactors to produce electricity," an Energy Department official says.

Ambassador Linton Brooks, under secretary of energy for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told a House Armed Services subcommittee July 26 that of the approximately 50 metric tons of surplus plutonium in the U.S. inventory, 34 tons will be used as nuclear-reactor fuel.

In his prepared remarks, the under secretary said each country is committed to eliminating 34 metric tons of its surplus weapons-grade plutonium under a 2000 U.S.-Russian agreement. This U.S.-Russian plutonium disposition initiative is the largest U.S. nonproliferation program, according to Brooks.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Director Sergei Kiriyenko earlier in July reaffirmed their commitment to implement the 2000 agreement. (See related article.)

To dispose of the U.S. plutonium, the Energy Department will construct three facilities at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to convert the plutonium into mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel, or MOX fuel, Brooks said. This mixed fuel then will be irradiated in nuclear reactors to produce electricity.

"Once the plutonium has been irradiated in a reactor, it has been converted to a form that can no longer be used in a nuclear weapon," he said.

Brooks added that mixed uranium-plutonium oxidefuel technology is "well-established and mature," and that it "is currently being used in more than 30 reactors worldwide."

This mixed oxide fuel approach to plutonium disposal is the most effective and appropriate means for disposing of surplus weapons plutonium, Brooks said. He added that the most compelling reason for doing so is the joint nonproliferation aspect of the program.

"We are disposing of our plutonium by fabricating it into fuel because we want Russia to do the same," he said.

One objective of the threat-reduction program is to help Russia "secure or dispose of as much weapons material as possible, as swiftly as possible, to prevent any of this material from falling into the hands of those who wish us, or our allies, harm," said Brooks.

"[I]n the long run the only way to permanently prevent the theft or diversion of this material is to dispose of it," Brooks said.

"[P]roceeding with the current strategy engages the Russian government to honor its commitment to dispose of its plutonium," said Brooks. "It demonstrates to the international community that the United States is committed to meeting its international nonproliferation obligations."

For additional information about U.S. nonproliferation efforts, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. See also the full text of Brooks' prepared statement.

More information about the National Nuclear Security Administration's program to eliminate weapons-grade plutonium production is available on the NNSA Web site.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)

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