Call for nuclear plants won't make much difference in Utah plans

The GNEP program has been criticized by nuclear nonproliferation activists and has received a chilly reception in Congress, which has refused to provide the short-term funding the Energy Department has requested. The administration wanted nearly $395 million for the program this year, but is getting $167 million.

Although nuclear fuel reprocessing continues in Europe and Japan, the United States abandoned it in the 1970s because of concerns that the stream of pure plutonium that is created poses a nuclear proliferation risk. But the GNEP program envisions adopting a different reprocessing method that its advocates argue would not create pure plutonium.

The Academy panel of scientists said that "significant technical problems remain to be solved" in development of the new approach, known as the "UREX" process.

This program "should not go forward," and it should be replaced by a less aggressive research program, the council's report adds.

Academy scientists reasoned that domestic waste management, security and the need for nuclear fuel are not adequate to justify commercial-scale reprocessing facilities, "and there is no economic justification to proceed."

Last month, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said that no nuclear plant should be built in Utah until the plant could reprocess its waste on site.

"That's a deal-breaker," the governor said in an interview. During his monthly press conference in October on KUED Channel 7, he reiterated that the storage issue needs to be resolved before Utahns would feel comfortable with nuclear power.

Tilton said the governor's position, plus any reduction in recycling research and development, do not pose any problems for Transition Power Development.

"The issue of having reprocessing is second, and incidental, to generating power," he said. "Eventually, we'll have reprocessing."

If a nuclear plant were to come on-line, there would not be any spent fuel to reprocess for 30 or 40 years, he said. Meanwhile, Transition Power's plant would be constructed with facilities to store spent fuel rods for 100 years.

The plant may not finish its regulatory reviews for at least five years, with construction taking place later. At the earliest, the plant could be operating in 10 years, but 15 years may be a more realistic guess, he said.

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Contributing: Associated Press

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