IDAHO TO GET INTO THE PLUTONIUM BUSINESS
compiled by Dee Finney
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Idaho National Laboratory may pick up plutonium project Posted on Mon, Aug. 16, 2004
Associated
Press
There are two finalists for a federal
facility to produce the fuel for batteries to enable
satellites and probes to flourish in space, an
official said Monday.
The program to produce the radioactive fuel will
either be housed at eastern Idaho's Argonne National
Laboratory-West or at the Oak Ridge National
Laboratory in Tennessee. The final decision depends on an environmental
review by the Department of Energy, which will
determine the future production of plutonium-238. "That has to occur before we know whether
more plutonium will be produced," spokesman Tim
Jackson said Monday. Plutonium-238 is made by processing
neptunium-237, another radioactive element. As it decays, plutonium generates heat which is
used to make electricity inside radioisotopic
thermal generators. This process has supplied power
to probes NASA's Galileo and Cassini. Although the Energy Department has already
decided to move neptunium-237 from its Savannah
River Site in South Carolina to Argonne-West, it is
unclear when those shipments will begin, Jackson
said. Bill Magwood, director of nuclear energy
research, decided to move the material to Argonne-West
as part of the consolidation of nuclear energy
research at the future Idaho National Laboratory. The decision, announced Friday in the Federal
Register, indicates the Idaho facility already meets
stricter security requirements and has the storage
space available for the neptunium, while the Oak
Ridge site does not meet security standards. Moving the entire plutonium project to Idaho is
expected to carry a price tag of about $200 million. At a hearing last month on the INL, Sen. Lamar
Alexander, R-Tenn., criticized spending the money on
moving the program to Idaho. He said it would have
been better spent on other projects. Argonne-West is currently building a new
radioisotopic thermal generators for a Pluto probe,
scheduled to be launched in 2006. The Idaho National Laboratory will be created in
February by the merger of Argonne-West and the Idaho
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. | ||
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Idaho
National Laboratory may get plutonium from SC (Idaho Falls, Idaho-AP) Aug. 16, 2004 - Plutonium may be shipped from the Savannah River Site to a federal facility for a program to produce radioactive material used in long-lasting batteries for satellites and other space instruments. The program to produce the radioactive fuel will either be housed at eastern Idaho's Argonne National Laboratory-West or at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Although the Department of Energy intends to move neptunium-237 from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to Argonne-West, it's not clear when those shipments will begin. The final decision depends on an environmental review by the Department of Energy. Neptunium-237 is needed to make plutonium-238, which is valued because for its long half-life. As the material decays, it gives off heat, which is turned into electricity inside radioisotopic thermal generators. The generators have powered NASA's Galileo and Cassini probes. Argonne-West is currently building a new radioisotopic thermal generators for a Pluto probe that is scheduled to be launched in 2006.
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SANTA FE — The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to the demand by New Mexico’s environmental secretary to veto the resumption of shipments from Idaho to a federal nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad until the state is satisfied that problems with shipments from Idaho are fixed. The DOE suspended shipments from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in mid-July after workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico discovered drums of waste that should have not been in the shipment. The drums had been added after a batch readied for shipment had been tested. State officials said suspect drums had been sent from Idaho since March, and 108 might be already disposed in WIPP. “Until the state is satisfied that all the proper actions have been taken to investigate and correct the recent waste analysis failure at INEEL, we cannot allow more waste to be shipped,” Environment Secretary Ron Curry said Thursday. The DOE agreed to comply with the state’s request, although it’s not clear New Mexico has the authority to block the shipments. “We will not ship from Idaho until we satisfy NMED’s concerns and get their approval,” Lloyd Piper, deputy director of the DOE’s Carlsbad office, said Thursday. “We stand by that agreement and that is our priority.” DOE Carlsbad manager Paul Detwiler, in an Aug. 10 letter to the state, said other testing of the suspect drums showed they did not pose any danger. Drums destined for WIPP are tested to ensure that radioactive waste buried there does not contain chemicals that could pose a hazard. WIPP, excavated from vast ancient salt beds 2,150 below ground, opened in 1999. It buries plutonium-contaminated waste from the nation’s defense work.
Copyright © 2004 Carlsbad Current-Argus, a Gannett Co.,
Inc. newspaper.
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THE DANGERS OF SHIPPING PLUTONIUM OVER THE OCEAN YUCCA
MOUNTAIN NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP DREAMS
OF THE GREAT EARTHCHANGES |
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