Jul 31 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Eric Fleischauer The Decatur Daily, Ala.



Weapons-grade plutonium may eventually power Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, but the public will have a say in the decision Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Energy will hold a public meeting Tuesday at Calhoun Community College's aerospace building from 5:30 p.m. to 8 to discuss plans to use mixed uranium-plutonium oxide, a processed version of weapons-grade plutonium, at TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Limestone County.

The goal of the program is to dispose of plutonium in ways that prevent it from being used in weapons. The nation has about seven tons of plutonium from the core of nuclear weapons that no longer are used for national defense.

DOE would subsidize TVA's use of the material, reprocessed at a site on the Savannah River, in nuclear fuel rods.

 The plan is controversial.

"When you're talking about a plant like Browns Ferry, which has had its safety issues over the years, doing anything that would increase the risk of those reactors having a meltdown is not a good idea," said Edwin Lyman, a senior staff scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C. Lyman will attend the hearing.

"When you put plutonium in reactors, you increase the risk," Lyman said.

"It increases the likelihood of certain accidents and, if those accidents occur, it could increase the consequences."

He said Browns Ferry is especially unsuited for mixed uranium-plutonium oxide -- called MOX -- because most research has been done on pressurized water reactors, not boiling water reactors like those at Browns Ferry.

"They'll be starting from scratch if they want to use Browns Ferry," Lyman said.

Advocates say MOX offers many advantages. It reduces dependence on imported fuels; it conserves uranium resources; and it reduces the amount of highly radioactive waste. Not only does MOX reduce the radioactive qualities of the plutonium, it is made by combining the plutonium with depleted uranium from spent fuel rods. The process thus reduces the radioactivity of conventional fuel rods before disposal.

Rejected by private producer

Lyman said one energy company -- Duke Energy -- refused to use MOX fuel after considerable research. TVA, he said, with closer ties to DOE, has agreed to take its place.

"TVA's already taking a lot of DOE trash," Lyman said. "It may get stuck with plutonium now."

While disposal of the plutonium is necessary, using it in reactors is not the best approach, Lyman said.

"It's the most expensive, the most time-consuming and the riskiest option," he said.

He said a better approach is to put processed plutonium in glass logs, which would be safe for burial.

"If DOE had pursued that approach over the last 15 years, they might have actually made some progress," Lyman said. "Instead they decided on MOX fuel, even though the vitrification (glass log) process would be cheaper and faster."

An advantage of converting plutonium to MOX is that it cannot be converted back to weapons-grade, easing concerns Russia had over U.S. disposal efforts.

"It's more expensive than uranium, so the government has to pay the utility to take it," Lyman said. "The upshot is we're stuck with the more expensive, more complicated option because that's what the Russians wanted us to do."

Less stable

Lyman said MOX fuel makes reactors less stable because it reduces the ability of the control rods to shut down the reactor.

"The worst-case scenario is that MOX fuel causes a severe accident in which there is a loss of ability to control the reactor, causing a rupture in a coolant pipe and the core to overheat and melt," Lyman said.

Such an accident is more likely, he said, with a boiling water reactor like the ones at Browns Ferry.

Tuesday's meeting is the only one the DOE will hold in Alabama, but the public can submit written comments through Sept. 17.

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