US senators urge Biden admin to not fund nuclear fuel reprocessing

US senators urge Biden admin to not fund nuclear fuel reprocessing

July 18, 2024 at 03:39 pm EDT
 

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) - Two Democratic U.S. senators have urged the administration of President Joe Biden to not fund proposals for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, saying such plants produce weapons-usable nuclear material and could encourage other countries to fund them abroad.
 

WHAT HAPPENED

Senators Jeff Merkley and Edward Markey, both Democrats, said in a letter dated Wednesday that reprocessing plants violate U.S. nuclear security policy which states that civil nuclear research and development must focus on approaches that avoid producing and accumulating weapons-usable nuclear material. They sent the letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Christopher Hanson.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

Many nonproliferation experts oppose reprocessing because they say its supply chain could be a target for militants seeking to seize plutonium and other materials for use in a crude nuclear bomb.

Former President Gerald Ford halted reprocessing in 1976, citing proliferation concerns. Former President Ronald Reagan lifted a moratorium in 1981, but high costs and security concerns have prevented plants from opening.

The lawmakers, co-chairs of the Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group, did not name any projects. But ARPA-E, a Department of Energy agency, is funding reprocessing projects.

The DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Granholm said when the ARPA-E funding was announced that recycling nuclear waste "can significantly reduce the amount of spent fuel at nuclear sites, and increase economic stability for the communities leading this important work."

ARPA-E has said concerns about proliferation related to the handling of dangerous nuclear materials during reprocessing are "precisely the challenges" the program aims to address.

KEY QUOTE

"The reprocessing of plutonium that would be undertaken at these plants would create security and proliferation risks that far outweigh any ostensible energy benefits," the senators said in the letter. "Furthermore, such projects would be vulnerable to attacks by nefarious actors who seek to exploit the infrastructure and nuclear fuel at these plants to threaten U.S. nationals and interests." (Reporting by Timothy Gardner Editing by Marguerita Choy)