USA Moves to Global Nuclear Fuel Supplier

USA Moves to Global Nuclear Fuel Supplier





    
 
January 2007  - The Bush 
administration is pressing forward with plans to recycle spent 
nuclear fuel in the United States and supply nuclear fuel to 
other countries that refrain from building nuclear enrichment 
or recycling facilities to make their own nuclear fuel. 
The U.S. Department of Energy, DOE, announced Thursday that it 
intends to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership 
Initiative, GNEP, promoted by President George W. Bush. 
Under the GNEP, the Energy Department proposes to design, 
build, and operate three facilities in the United States. 
A nuclear fuel recycling center would be constructed to 
separate spent nuclear fuel into reusable and waste components 
and then manufacture new nuclear fast reactor fuel using the 
reusable components. 
An advanced recycling reactor would be built to destroy 
long-lived radioactive elements in the new fuel while 
generating electricity. 
And an advanced fuel cycle research facility would be built to 
explore spent nuclear fuel recycling processes and other 
advanced nuclear fuel cycles. 
Introducing the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, 
PEIS, on Thursday, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy 
Dennis Spurgeon said, “Our need for nuclear power - a safe, 
emissions-free and affordable source of energy - has never 
been greater and GNEP puts us on a path to encourage expansion 
of domestic and international nuclear energy production while 
reducing nuclear proliferation risks.” 
U.S. Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon 
(Photo courtesy The World Nuclear Association) 
Before he joined the Department of Energy, Spurgeon was 
executive vice president and COO of the publicly traded 
company USEC Inc. With headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, 
this global energy company is a supplier of enriched uranium 
fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. 
Through its subsidiary, the United States Enrichment 
Corporation, USEC operates the only two uranium enrichment 
facilities in the United States, the gaseous diffusion plants 
in Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio. 
Uranium enrichment is a key step in the production of nuclear 
fuel used by nuclear power plants worldwide to generate 
electricity. 
The GNEP also includes two international initiatives. First, 
the United States would supply nuclear fuel services to other 
countries that decide not to build their own nuclear 
enrichment or recycling facilities to make nuclear fuel. 
The program also would develop proliferation-resistant nuclear 
power reactors for use in developing economies. 
Speaking in Vienna September 19, 2006 at an event called 
"Assurances of Nuclear Supply and Nonproliferation" hosted by 
the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, Spurgeon said the 
United States does not intend to impose its nuclear fuel 
services upon other countries. 
"Of course," he said, "each state is free to make its own 
decisions with respect to nuclear energy policy, consistent 
with its international obligations." 
"Our intent is not to infringe on the sovereignty of states in 
making those decisions, but to provide alternatives that 
secure energy supplies and promote our shared nonproliferation 
goals," said Spurgeon. 
The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant where uranium is enriched. 
In 1988, the Kentucky Radiation Control Branch found the 
radioactive material technetium-99 in private drinking water 
wells near the plant. In 2003, Kentucky and the Department of 
Energy signed an agreement to promote accelerated cleanup at 
the plant. (Photo courtesy KRCEE) 
As part of President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative, the 
GNEP encourages expansion of domestic and international 
nuclear energy production. 
At the same time, the Energy Department says, the program will 
help to minimize proliferation risks, and reduce the volume, 
thermal output, and radiotoxicity of spent nuclear fuel before 
disposal in a geologic repository. 
The Bush administration is still pressing forward to develop 
the nation's first geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, 
Nevada, despite opposition from the Nevada Congressional 
Delegation, which includes Senator Harry Reid, the new Senate 
majority leader, who has vowed that the facility will never be 
built. 
Support is growing for the renewed development of the nuclear 
industry in the United States. In October 2006, the 
Progressive Policy Institute, which is affiliated with the 
Democratic Leadership Council, issued a report on the energy 
sources it supports for the 21st century. 
Along with support for homegrown biofuels, a cap on carbon 
emissions and more wind, solar and clean coal, the report, "A 
Progressive Energy Platform," states, "Expand nuclear power, 
which produces no greenhouse gas emissions. New plant designs 
can produce power more safely and economically than 
first-generation facilities." 
Many environmentalists are still opposed to nuclear 
development. "To call nuclear reactors clean and safe is the 
height of hypocrisy," said Greenpeace USA spokesman Jim Riccio 
last April on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. 
"Unfortunately, nuclear energy will not address our addiction 
to oil and therefore, it isn’t a viable solution to global 
warming," said Riccio. 
The GNEP Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement will 
consider a wide range of potential impacts from releases of 
radioactivity and other hazardous materials to the general 
population and workers. The PEIS will consider impacts to air 
and water quality, as well as to plants and animals near the 
proposed facilities. 
The Department of Energy's Savannah River Site near Aiken, 
South Carolina is being considered to host one or more of the 
GNEP facilities. (Photo courtesy Pacific Northwest National 
Laboratory) 
The PEIS will consider the potential impacts from 
transportation of the radioactive materials and waste across 
the United States and around the world and the potential 
impacts from the treatment, storage, and disposal of these 
materials. 
The potential impacts from accidents, acts of terrorism or 
sabotage also will be evaluated. 
The PEIS will consider adverse effects on low-income and 
minority populations and the cultural and achaeological 
concerns of Native Americans. 
Also under consideration are the short and long-term land use 
impacts, long-term health and environmental impacts, site 
suitability, consumption of natural resources and energy, 
pollution prevention and waste management practices, as well 
as potential impacts from decontamination and decommissioning 
of facilities at the end of their useful lives. 
The PEIS will consider 13 sites as possible locations for one 
or more of the proposed GNEP facilities. 
At this time, the following DOE sites are under consideration 
for the location of a nuclear fuel recycling center and/or an 
advanced recycling reactor: 
  Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho 
  Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Paducah, Kentucky 
  Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Piketon, Ohio 
  Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina 
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 
  Hanford Nuclear Site, Richland, Washington
In addition, five non-DOE sites also are under consideration 
for the location of a nuclear fuel recycling center and/or an 
advanced recycling reactor:
  Atomic City, Idaho 
  Morris, Illinois 
  Hobbs, New Mexico 
  Roswell, New Mexico 
  Barnwell, South Carolina
DOE is proposing that the advanced fuel cycle research 
facility be located at a DOE site. Sites under consideration 
include: 
  Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho 
  Argonne National Laboratory, DuPage County, Illinois 
  Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 
  Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina 
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 
  Hanford Nuclear Site, Richland, Washington
To further define the PEIS and identify key issues, the Energy 
Department is inviting the public to comment on the proposed 
scope during the 90-day comment period that began December 27, 
2006 continues through April 4, 2007. All comments received 
during the public scoping period will be considered in 
preparing the GNEP Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement. 
To encourage public participation in the GNEP PEIS process, 
the Energy Department will host scoping meetings:
  February 13 Oak Ridge, Tennessee 
  February 15 North Augusta, South Carolina 
  February 22 Joliet, Illinois 
  February 26 Hobbs, New Mexico 
  February 27 Roswell, New Mexico 
  March 1 Los Alamos, New Mexico 
  March 6 Paducah, Kentucky 
  March 8 Piketon, Ohio 
  March 13 Pasco, Washington 
  March 15 Idaho Falls, Idaho 
  March 19 Washington, DC
To see the locations and times for the scoping meetings and to 
read the Federal Register Notice for the GNEP Draft PEIS, 
click here. 
The Energy Department plans to publish the GNEP Draft 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement in 2007 and the 
GNEP Final PEIS in 2008. 
Once it is approved, the Energy Department will announce the 
availability of the GNEP Draft Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement in the Federal Register and hold public 
hearings to solicit comments on the GNEP Draft PEIS from 
federal, state, and local governments, Native American tribes, 
industry, other organizations, and members of the public. 
These comments will be considered and addressed in the GNEP 
Final PEIS. The Energy Department will issue one or more 
Records of Decision at least 30 days after publication of the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notice of Availability 
of the GNEP Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement. 

For more information on the lease agreement and patent 
license, access http://www.gnep.gov/.