Posted on 05/06/2003 12:18:10 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission won't grant permission to build a plutonium fuel plant in South Carolina until 19 lingering safety questions are resolved by the government's contractor.
A revised safety evaluation report completed Friday found 19 issues that Duke Cogema Stone & Webster must address before constructing the mixed oxide fuel plant at the Savannah River Site. The plant would make plutonium-blended fuel for use in commercial nuclear plants, a first in the United States.
Federal officials want to know more about how the company would address fire and chemical safety issues. The NRC also has safety questions about ventilation and any possible atomic reaction at the plant.
"It's a matter of them answering questions to the satisfaction of (federal) license reviewers,'' NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said.
Additional details on the concerns were unavailable Monday.
Duke Cogema spokesman Todd Kaish said his company expects to resolve the questions so it can start plant construction in 2004. If all issues are resolved, the NRC would issue a license this fall, Kaish said.
"This facility will be operated extremely safety," Kaish said.
The Bush administration has said it will commit $3.8 billion to the mixed oxide fuel facility. The factory will turn surplus weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for use in Duke Energy's commercial nuclear reactors near Charlotte.
Anti-nuclear activists have opposed the mixed oxide fuel program, saying it is dangerous to ship and burn plutonium-blended fuel in commercial plants. Instead of making fuel, they have pushed the government to immobilize the material in glass so it can't be used for nuclear weapons.
Plutonium is a deadly radioactive metal and a key ingredient in nuclear weapons. It can increase people's chances of cancer if it gets into the air and people breathe the material.
Friday's safety evaluation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission updates a report issued in 2002.
At the time, the federal agency said it had 59 unresolved issues that Duke Cogema would need to address. The agency now has 19 questions in its revised draft safety evaluation.
Duke Cogema Stone & Webster is a consortium of companies selected by the Department of Energy to build and operate the mixed oxide fuel plant.
Recent concerns from the NRC follow a decision by the Department of Energy to use more impure plutonium in the fuel plant than originally projected. That could require modifications to the mixed oxide fuel facilities at SRS, according to the publication Energy Daily.
A nuclear nonproliferation agreement with Russia calls on both countries to make surplus plutonium useless for atomic weapons. Both countries have agreed to neutralize 34 metric tons each.
While questions about the Russian program remain unresolved, the U.S. government says it will ship 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium to SRS for eventual use in mixed oxide fuel. The first shipments are coming from the Rocky Flats weapons site, a Colorado facility that is closing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.