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On January 23, US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced plans to convert 34 tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for burning in nuclear reactors. According to Abraham:
"Today's announcement is central to enhancing our national security and advancing our non-proliferation goals. This path forward is a workable, technologically possible, and affordable solution, that meets our commitments to environmental improvement, energy and national security, and the nuclear non-proliferation policies agreed to by the United States and Russia."
In September 2000, Presidents Clinton and Putin signed the 'Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement', committing each side to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium (see Disarmament Diplomacy No. 50, September 2000, pp. 58-59). The Clinton administration had been considered a combination of two disposal methods: conversion to MOX, and immobilization in glass containers for long-term storage. According to an Energy Department statement (January 23), "eliminating immobilization from the disposition pathway saves nearly $2 billion in funding, decreases plutonium storage costs, and facilitates the closure of the Department's former nuclear weapons complex sites." The statement continues:
"The MOX conversion process is expected to cost $3.8 billion over 20 years, including the construction of two new conversion facilities at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina, including disassembly and fuel fabrication facilities. Constriction of the facilities, set to begin in Fiscal Year 2004, will create on average 500 new jobs, and operation of the facilities will result in approximately 800 new jobs. The Department of State and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration will work with their counterparts in Russia to achieve the disposition of Russian surplus plutonium through the MOX process. Bilateral cooperation and inspections will ensure progress."
The MOX disposition option has been criticised by numerous analysts and campaign groups as counterproductive from a non-proliferation standpoint by making large amounts of plutonium available to the commercial sector. Critics point out that years of reprocessing, primarily in Europe and Japan, have already generated a surplus of around 200 tons of plutonium. Reprocessing can also be used, it is argued - with India frequently cited as the prime example - to mask the deliberate production of weapons-grade materials. Speaking on the day of the announcement, Tom Clements of the Nuclear Control Institute (NCI) in Washington accused the new policy of "posing safety and security risks", as well as leaving many technical and legal questions unanswered.
Related Material on Acronym website:
Reports: Secretary Abraham announces administration plans to proceed with plutonium disposition and reduce proliferation concerns, US Energy Department News Release, PR-02-007, January 23; Energy Dept. to convert plutonium, Associated Press, January 23; All surplus plutonium to be used in reactors, Bush decides, Global Security Newswire, January 23; The 'revised' plutonium disposition strategy - DOE's 'House of Cards', Nuclear Control Institute briefing by Edwin S. Lyman, February 22 (http://www.nci.org).
© 2002 The Acronym Institute.