News Articles/Editorials

August 25, 2008

The Roanoke Times Editorial: Reduce, reuse, recycle -- nuclear waste?

Sen. Webb wants to explore whether the U.S. should recycle nuclear fuel rods. The experts are divided, and an investigation is worthwhile.

After a visit to a nuclear fuel processing plant in Lynchburg, Sen. James Webb said he wants to consider whether it's time for the United States to get serious about recycling nuclear waste.

That's a complex issue that deserves serious study. On the surface, it looks like a no-brainer. Reprocessing spent fuel rods can recover 96 percent of the uranium for use in new fuel rods.

Reducing the volume of waste means that the planned repository in Yucca Mountain in Nevada won't fill up as quickly as anticipated. Reusing the fuel also lessens the need for environmentally damaging uranium mining.

But there are drawbacks, naturally. Reprocessing is extremely expensive and can result in the production of plutonium that could be used for nuclear weapons, raising a host of security concerns.

But France and the United Kingdom have been using the technology for decades. (Areva, which runs the plant that Webb visited, is mostly owned by the French government.) They believe it is safe and efficient.

The United States is actually already looking into the potential of nuclear waste recycling. There are several test programs around the nation, including one that Areva and Babcock & Wilcox Co. are participating in.

Experts have mixed opinions on the feasibility and wisdom of the issue.

In a 2007 commentary, Donald J. Dudziak, a fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory and professor emeritus of nuclear engineering at North Carolina State University, insisted that "spent fuel is not waste, but rather a valuable energy resource for the future."

Robert Alvarez, a senior scholar for nuclear issues at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., on the other hand, insisted that a recycling center would "likely become a dump for the largest, lethal source of high-heat radioactivity in the United States and possibly the world."

As global warming fears and the mounting costs of other forms of energy make nuclear look more and more attractive, this debate is an important one.

The major drawback to nuclear energy, after all, is the lack of a satisfactory method of handling the waste, which will remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years.

But it's clear that not all the issues involved with recycling have been fully explored.

Webb's interest is good. He's a thoughtful man who is not afraid to delve into the complexities of difficult and technical issues. He also has an engineering background and experience with nuclear energy from his Navy days.

The United States shouldn't leap into recycling fuel rods, but the topic deserves a full and comprehensive investigation. Perhaps Webb can make that happen.

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