TVA eyes nuclear waste center

The Tennessee Valley Authority, along with the U.S. Department of Energy, could announce as early as Monday a plan to develop a nuclear waste recycling center that could demonstrate a technology many experts believe can address the growing problem of spent nuclear waste, according to a Congressional source.

In the agreement, which has yet to be finalized, TVA would explore recycling spent nuclear fuel, common in other countries, but nearly unheard of in the U.S.

Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., did not return a call Friday, and Sen. Jeff Sessions' office said he would withhold comment until the official announcement was made.

"The Department of Energy is working a cooperative arrangement with TVA to share information, but details aren't finalized yet," said Angela Hill, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy. "This kind of cooperation is consistent with what we've been pursing with the academic, industry and national laboratory in Research and Development to close the nuclear fuel cycle."

TVA spokesman Gil Francis said he didn't know any details about the project since an official announcement hadn't been made.

Essentially, radioactive uranium fuel in nuclear reactors becomes transformed into a mixture of unspent uranium and plutonium waste. A chemical process, called PUREX, can separate the uranium and plutonium from fission byproducts.

France, which derives more than 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear reactors, has been a leader in nuclear fuel recycling for decades. The U.S. does not have regulations in place that control recycling of spent fuel.

Critics of fuel recycling point out that plutonium is used in nuclear weapons, a concern that the radioactive waste could reach the wrong hands.

The cost of recycling the fuel may remain prohibitive. Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Maryland concluded in a 2005 study that using nuclear reactor fuel once in typical reactors would remain significantly cheaper than recycling the waste for "at least the next 50 years, even with substantial growth in nuclear power."

Officials at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), a policy organization for the nuclear technologies industry, declined to comment until an official announcement was made.

The NEI has advocated for fuel recycling as a way "to reduce the volume, heat and toxicity of nuclear waste and recover useful materials," according to the organization's Web site.

Recycling spent nuclear fuel is not a new concept.

As of 2003, 75,000 metric tons of used nuclear waste has been reprocessed worldwide, according to NEI. Also, each metric ton of used fuel provides as much energy as 100,000 barrels of oil, according to the trade organization.

The nuclear industry has been hit with skyrocketing prices of uranium, one of the central metals used in nuclear reactions, and the question of how to dispose of the toxic waste generated from the nuclear fission process still haunts the industry.

Uranium traded at $7 per pound in 2000, but by 2007, averaged about $100 per pound, according to a Reuters report. Worldwide demand of the resource is only growing as the World Nuclear Organisation recently reported that 33 reactors were under construction with another 94 ordered.

In the U.S., around 30 nuclear reactors are coming on board, including the proposed Bellefonte plant, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute.

The Department of Energy spent billions to develop a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which faces strong opposition.

In the U.S., 55,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste is stored at 100 sites in 39 states.

The U.S. has had a mixed history with nuclear fuel recycling. As early as 1966, the Atomic Energy Commission permitted commercial reprocessing of defense weapon generated waste for a plant near Buffalo, N.Y., according to a 2006 policy paper from the Congressional Research Service.

A decade later, President Gerald Ford denounced recycling of plutonium, the main by product of the nuclear fission reaction "unless there is sound reason to conclude that the world community can effectively overcome the associated risks of proliferation," Ford said.

By 1981, President Ronald Reagan lifted the reprocessing ban, though the moratorium remained in effect throughout the industry.

As early as 2001, President George Bush stated to the National Energy Policy Development Group that the U.S. should consider technologies to "develop reprocessing and fuel treatment technologies that are cleaner, more efficient, less waste intensive, and more proliferation-resistant."

Bush mentioned fuel recycling during his visit in June in commemoration of the restart of one reactor at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Athens.

"We ought to do something about reprocessing," Bush told the audience during his visit. "Congress needs to spend the money in order to do the research. And when we do, we will be able to answer a lot of the charges of our critics that say, what are you going to do with the fuel? Well, here's a good answer: Recycle it, reburn it and reduce the amount of the problem. And that's what the United States needs to be doing."

Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@timesdaily.com.