Earlier this month, the Department of Energy announced that
spent nuclear fuel from American research reactors will be melted down
and stored, rather than reprocessed and reused. The announcement comes
at the same time that Canadian researchers are planning to recycle
nuclear
waste into reactor fuel. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator
Suzanne Elston says that this is one time when recycling shouldn’t be an
option.
Tag: weapons grade plutonium
Commentary – Plutonium to Stay in U-S
The U-S recently announced that it’s abandoning plans to export
weapons-grade plutonium to Canada. U-S activists opposed the idea of
shipping the material along American highways. As Great Lakes Radio
Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston observes, in winning the battle
over transport, those activists may have lost the war:
Canada to Accept Cold War Plutonium
Canada is telling the U-S and Russia it’s willing to accept plutonium
from dismantled nuclear warheads. The Canadian Prime Minister says its
Canada’s way of helping destroy the nuclear arsenal. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… some Canadians don’t want to
help if it means shipping weapons grade plutonium through their
communities:
Plutonium Hits the Road
World leaders have agreed to help the U.S. and Russia find and test
methods of disposing excess nuclear warhead material. One option is to
create what’s called MOX (MOCKS) fuel to be burned in a nuclear
reactor. MOX fuel is created when uranium oxide is mixed with
weapons-grade plutonium. There are plans to test MOX fuel in Canadian
nuclear reactors this spring. But shipping the material to Canada
worries people on both sides of the border. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Todd Witter reports:
Plutonium Protest
Later this month (October, 1998), the U.S. Department of Energy
will begin shipping weapons grade plutonium to Canada for testing as a
possible fuel for nuclear reactors. As Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
commentator Suzanne Elston cautions, this could open up a whole new global
economy for the most deadly substance on earth: