US to Decide Soon on Making Plutonium for Rockets
Date: 02-Aug-05
Country: USA
Author: Laura Zuckerman
The US Department of Energy will decide this fall whether to move forward with its proposal to produce the radioactive metal at a federal nuclear facility in southeast Idaho, a department spokesman said.
Under the $300 million plan, the Idaho National Laboratory would produce 11 pounds (5 kg) of plutonium-238 a year for 30 years starting in 2011. The non-weapons-grade plutonium is used to power everything from satellites to deep space probes, leading industry insiders to call the finished product "space batteries."
The proposal calls for half the batteries to be earmarked for NASA projects and the rest for undisclosed national security purposes.
The United States needs to produce plutonium because its stockpiles are low and because an agreement with Russia prevents it from using plutonium-238 produced there for security or defense applications, according to DOE analyses.
Idaho officials are endorsing the proposal but are in a dispute with the DOE over disposal of radioactive waste. They want written assurances that the estimated 5,500 gallons of contaminated waste generated each year by producing plutonium-238 would be hauled out of state.
"In my opinion, this would lay the foundation for Idaho to become a leader in our nation's space program, "US Senator Mike Crapo, a Republican, said in an interview. "This could make Idaho a significant part of NASA."
Most Idaho residents who attended public hearings this summer disapproved of the proposal, said Kathleen Trever, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's lab oversight coordinator.
"The negatives outweighed the positives but it was unclear to what extent that reflected the opinion of the general population," Trever said.
Idaho and the Department of Energy have been locked in a years-old conflict over cleanup of nuclear waste materials at the laboratory's sprawling complex near Idaho Falls. The complex overlies the Eastern Snake River Aquifer, one of the state's primary sources of drinking and irrigation water.
"We want to make sure we don't repeat problems of the past that led us to have waste with no clear disposal path," Trevor said.