House Cuts Funding for Reprocessing Fuel from Nuclear Reactors
In the weeks after 45,000 Union of Concerned Scientists activists sent letters to Congress opposing a new and dangerous plan to "reprocess" used fuel from commercial nuclear reactors, the House of Representatives cut the Bush administration's $250 million request for the plan by more than half.
"Reprocessing" separates weapons-usable plutonium from other nuclear waste contained in used, or "spent," fuel generated by U.S. nuclear power reactors. The administration's proposal would require the construction and operation of a vast array of nuclear facilities and makes disposing of nuclear waste more difficult, while costing a tremendous amount of money. Most significantly, it would encourage other countries to reprocess and make it easier for terrorists to acquire plutonium, which can be readily used to make a nuclear bomb.
The House provided only $120 million for the initiative and specified that no money could be spent to build the demonstration reprocessing facility that was the centerpiece of the administration's proposal. Instead, the House mandated a peer review of the proposed reprocessing technologies by the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering before design of any demonstration plants can begin.
