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Businesses Support Proposed Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant

Posted on: Saturday, 1 April 2006, 00:00 CST

AIKEN, S.C. _ Aiken-area business leaders want to land a controversial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant that could bring thousands of jobs to the Savannah River Site.

It would be years before the government built the project _ if studies determine the venture is safe and worthwhile.

But supporters say a fuel reprocessing complex is worth pursuing for SRS _ and it's time to let the federal government know they like the idea.

"We think SRS is a great site that should be looked at," said Danny Black, director of the Southern Carolina Alliance, which helps recruit industry to the Barnwell-Aiken area. "There are a lot of potential jobs and a lot of potential growth associated with something like this."

The Savannah River Site's chief contractor and key business groups filed notice with the federal government Friday that they're interested. Government officials want to launch a demonstration project to see if a permanent reprocessing facility would work. The idea is to reclaim radioactive material from used nuclear fuel to make fresh nuclear fuel for atomic power plants.

That would mark a major shift in U.S. policy and draw opposition from anti-nuclear activists. President Jimmy Carter scrapped the idea in the 1970s because of concerns about its danger and high costs.

According to plans by the U.S. Department of Energy, communities across the country would compete for a new reprocessing demonstration plant. If that plant works, the government would build a permanent complex somewhere in the United States. That complex would include a reprocessing plant and possibly a nuclear fuel plant to supply new commercial reactors.

Business groups signing off on the notice Friday include the Aiken/Edgefield Economic Development Partnership, the Southern Carolina Alliance, Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness and area chambers of commerce. The cities of Aiken and North Augusta also back the effort. The notice was filed by the Washington Savannah River Co., the site's chief contractor. Mal McKibben, who directs Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, estimated SRS could one day land 2,000 to 4,000 jobs from reprocessing facilities. Other estimates place the jobs total in the hundreds.

Area leaders are seeking new missions at SRS as the site gears down from 50 years of Cold War weapons production activities and clean up. The federal government also is considering a mixed-oxide fuel plant and a modern pit facility at SRS that would employ thousands. In this case, the U.S. Department of Energy is considering the reprocessing project as part of an effort to reuse re-use radioactive material that remains in spent nuclear fuel after it is burned by commercial power plants.

Instead of being left as waste, the radioactive materials could be recycled and used again to make atomic reactor fuel for new nuclear power plants. Fuel plants and new reactors also would be built, according to plans.

Bush administration officials say that could cut the amount of nuclear waste nationally and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. But Tom Clements, a nuclear non-proliferation activist who follows SRS, said the government can't reprocess fuel without risk _ even if it uses new technologies. He said Clements believes the Energy Department is trying to fast-track the reprocessing idea before President Bush leaves office in 2009.

"In 30 years of working on DOE issues, I don't think I've seen a program trying to move so quickly that is so ill-defined and costly," Clements said.

Clements said reprocessing would produce more highly toxic waste at the Savannah River Site. The site has 36 million tons of highly radioactive waste in aging tanks, but cleaning out the tanks has proven problematic and costly. Some of the waste is toxic enough to kill a person instantly.

The government chose not to use a nuclear reprocessing plant near Barnwell in the 1970s because of its potential dangers. One of the key fears was that plutonium culled from reprocessing fuel could be stolen and used for atomic bombs. Some believe SRS is a favorite of the DOE for the project. A top official at SRS last month told the Washington Savannah River Co. to begin feasibility studies on reprocessing. The March 3 letter from SRS contract manager Jeff Allison, released this week, said the energy department had $2 million to support "preconceptual project activities."

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(c) 2006, The State (Columbia, S.C.).

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Source: The State (Columbia, S.C.)

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