April 13, 2010, 12:02 AM EDT
By Viola Gienger
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- A dispute over the recycling of nuclear fuel by reactor suppliers such as France’s Areva SA surfaced in Washington yesterday, as U.S. officials sought to skirt the issue at a summit elsewhere in town.
Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and former U.S. ambassador-at-large Robert Gallucci called for an end to the fuel-recycling practice at a conference of experts being held in parallel with President Barack Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit.
The summit focuses on keeping separated plutonium and highly enriched uranium out of the hands of terrorists, and Evans and Gallucci said that recycling creates stockpiles of dangerous materials ripe for theft. The practice is drawing attention as more countries look at nuclear power for their energy needs.
The position of Evans and Gallucci drew a retort from Areva’s former director of non-proliferation and international institutions, who is attending the meeting of experts.
“Recycling in the proper manner in good conditions can be a support to non-proliferation efforts,” Caroline Jorant, who is leaving Areva to become a consultant, told the meeting organized by the Fissile Materials Working Group, which is supporting Obama’s efforts. “I think we should focus on the security of fissile material.”
Areva, the world’s largest supplier of nuclear reactors, is the biggest maker of so-called MOX, a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxide. The fuel includes reprocessed plutonium from a spent nuclear fuel processing plant.
Arms Control
The issue, a bone of contention between arms-control advocates and other scientists, is not among those central to the Obama summit, as administration officials seek to forge a consensus among 47 nations on working harder to keep nuclear materials away from terrorists.
The gathering of world leaders, the latest step by Obama to lay groundwork for ultimately eliminating nuclear weapons, is the biggest by a U.S. president since the post-World War II meetings that established the United Nations.
Administration officials said last week they deliberately avoided some of the more contentious issues that wouldn’t have won support from all the participants. The decision was to focus strictly on securing raw materials and reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism
“We believe that this in particular is an area where there is a very broad and deep international consensus,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on an April 9 conference call.
Evans said he’s concerned that the recycling issue isn’t on the agenda.
‘Not Plausible’
“To sort of pretend that this is an issue that’s not a security issue at all” as some advocates of the process have said “really is just not plausible,” Evans told his audience.
Reprocessing fuel that has already been used in a reactor so that it can be used again in certain types of plants is different from a plan the U.S. and Russia have agreed on to dispose of 34,000 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium, enough material for about 17,000 nuclear weapons.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will sign the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement today. It was agreed to in principle by then-Presidents Bill Clinton and Vladimir Putin in June 2000. Disputes between the two governments over protocols to implement the accord delayed action until now.
Commission Study
Obama hasn’t taken a stance on the specific issue of nuclear-fuel recycling. He directed Energy Secretary Steven Chu in January to form a blue ribbon commission to study “all alternatives for the storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and defense used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste” in a way that would be “consistent with U.S. nonproliferation goals.”
The panel is led by former Democratic Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana and Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush.
Obama has pledged to support nuclear power with steps such as government loans for new reactors as one way to provide a cleaner energy source in his drive to combat climate change.
Nations looking to nuclear power as an essential part of energy strategy “should make sure that plutonium recycling in any form is not part of their plans,” said Gallucci, now president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which finances projects aimed at reducing the risks of nuclear weapons.
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-13/nuclear-fuel-recycling-dispute-arises-on-margin-of-obama-summit.html
By Viola Gienger
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- A dispute over the recycling of nuclear fuel by reactor suppliers such as France’s Areva SA surfaced in Washington yesterday, as U.S. officials sought to skirt the issue at a summit elsewhere in town.
Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and former U.S. ambassador-at-large Robert Gallucci called for an end to the fuel-recycling practice at a conference of experts being held in parallel with President Barack Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit.
The summit focuses on keeping separated plutonium and highly enriched uranium out of the hands of terrorists, and Evans and Gallucci said that recycling creates stockpiles of dangerous materials ripe for theft. The practice is drawing attention as more countries look at nuclear power for their energy needs.
The position of Evans and Gallucci drew a retort from Areva’s former director of non-proliferation and international institutions, who is attending the meeting of experts.
“Recycling in the proper manner in good conditions can be a support to non-proliferation efforts,” Caroline Jorant, who is leaving Areva to become a consultant, told the meeting organized by the Fissile Materials Working Group, which is supporting Obama’s efforts. “I think we should focus on the security of fissile material.”
Areva, the world’s largest supplier of nuclear reactors, is the biggest maker of so-called MOX, a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxide. The fuel includes reprocessed plutonium from a spent nuclear fuel processing plant.
Arms Control
The issue, a bone of contention between arms-control advocates and other scientists, is not among those central to the Obama summit, as administration officials seek to forge a consensus among 47 nations on working harder to keep nuclear materials away from terrorists.
The gathering of world leaders, the latest step by Obama to lay groundwork for ultimately eliminating nuclear weapons, is the biggest by a U.S. president since the post-World War II meetings that established the United Nations.
Administration officials said last week they deliberately avoided some of the more contentious issues that wouldn’t have won support from all the participants. The decision was to focus strictly on securing raw materials and reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism
“We believe that this in particular is an area where there is a very broad and deep international consensus,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on an April 9 conference call.
Evans said he’s concerned that the recycling issue isn’t on the agenda.
‘Not Plausible’
“To sort of pretend that this is an issue that’s not a security issue at all” as some advocates of the process have said “really is just not plausible,” Evans told his audience.
Reprocessing fuel that has already been used in a reactor so that it can be used again in certain types of plants is different from a plan the U.S. and Russia have agreed on to dispose of 34,000 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium, enough material for about 17,000 nuclear weapons.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will sign the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement today. It was agreed to in principle by then-Presidents Bill Clinton and Vladimir Putin in June 2000. Disputes between the two governments over protocols to implement the accord delayed action until now.
Commission Study
Obama hasn’t taken a stance on the specific issue of nuclear-fuel recycling. He directed Energy Secretary Steven Chu in January to form a blue ribbon commission to study “all alternatives for the storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and defense used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste” in a way that would be “consistent with U.S. nonproliferation goals.”
The panel is led by former Democratic Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana and Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush.
Obama has pledged to support nuclear power with steps such as government loans for new reactors as one way to provide a cleaner energy source in his drive to combat climate change.
Nations looking to nuclear power as an essential part of energy strategy “should make sure that plutonium recycling in any form is not part of their plans,” said Gallucci, now president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which finances projects aimed at reducing the risks of nuclear weapons.
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-13/nuclear-fuel-recycling-dispute-arises-on-margin-of-obama-summit.html
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