Plant to turn plutonium into fuel

Work begins on facility to reduce nuclear stockpiles

Work begins on facility to reduce nuclear stockpiles

Grace Beahm
The Post and Courier

Construction crews are at the beginning stages of building the new fuel fabrication facility at the Savannah River Site that will convert weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for power plants.

AIKEN — The U.S. government began building a plant Wednesday aimed at reducing the risk that terrorists will acquire deadly plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons.

The plant is being built at Savannah River Site, just across a dusty road from where the nation began building its nuclear arsenal during the Cold War.

The plant, which is not scheduled to come online until 2016, is already several years behind schedule and billions of dollars over its original budget.

But federal officials say the $4.8 billion project is the only safe and efficient way to dispose of some 75,000 pounds of surplus plutonium stored at government sites around the country. That's enough plutonium to make 17,000 nuclear weapons.

William Tobey, a deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, described the Savannah River Site as a fitting "hub" for the nation's efforts to reduce nuclear stockpiles. "They helped us win the Cold War," he said. "Now they are helping us win the war on terror."

The plant won't actually destroy the plutonium — one of the most dangerous substances on earth — but will convert it into a safer form suitable for powering nuclear power plants. The material would be ground into a powder and combined with uranium oxide to form mixed oxide fuel, or MOX. The stew would be sealed in half-inch pellets to form 12-foot-long fuel rods.

Duke Power's Catawba plant in York County and McGuire plant on Lake Norman in North Carolina will burn the fuel rods to generate enough electricity to supply 1 million households for 50 years.

Tobey visited the construction site with other government and project officials Wednesday, though there was little to see except two large construction cranes and a huge hole in the ground.

The project has already cost taxpayers about $1 billion. Most of that was spent on the design of the plant, which is based on similar facilities in France.

Proponents of the project say it will provide an economic boost to the region and brings a crucial national security role to a Cold War relic in need of a new mission. Critics say the project does little to reduce the terrorism threat because it creates a "plutonium economy."

The Union of Concerned Scientists condemned the launch of construction. Edwin Lyman, a senior staff scientist for the group, said it's hypocritical to create such a program when the international community is struggling to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

The plant is part of a 2000 nuclear-reduction deal between the United States and Russia to dispose of 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium each. Original projections called for the U.S. plant to cost $1 billion and to start up this year, but the agreement has been plagued by project mismanagement at the Savannah River Site, as well as political and economic instability in Russia, according to government reports.

One of the project's more notable developments came in September 2004, when a batch of converted plutonium was shipped from France through the Port of Charleston. The shipment was part of a test run by the U.S. Department of Energy to see if MOX fuel assemblies would work properly at the Catawba power plant.

Officials said Wednesday that no additional international shipments of plutonium are planned. They declined to say how much plutonium remains stored at government storage facilities in California, Washington and other states and when it will be transported by land to South Carolina.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., is a long-time supporter of the plant.

He said that in the post-9/11 world, the country can't afford to leave plutonium stockpiles vulnerable to terrorism. "If we lose control of this stuff, we don't know whose hands it may fall into."

Reach Ron Menchaca at 937-5724 or rmenchaca@post andcourier.com.