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Jan. 18, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Porter looks at recycling nuclear fuel

By TONY BATT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- After inspecting a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in France, Rep. Jon Porter on Thursday said Nevada universities should be at the forefront in researching the reprocessing of nuclear fuel.

"According to the French, there is a shortage of folks in this field; and if we can become the premier state in researching the recycling of nuclear fuel and alternative energy sources, the pressure to open Yucca Mountain might be reduced," Porter said.

During reprocessing, uranium and plutonium are separated from other materials in spent nuclear fuel. That could significantly reduce the 77,000 tons of nuclear waste which would be stored at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

But for more than 30 years, the United States has banned reprocessing of nuclear waste in an attempt to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons material.

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    • "I think we have ignored a viable option for a number of years, and we need to accelerate efforts to look at reprocessing as a way to diversify our energy portfolio," said Porter, a three-term Republican.

    Porter said the cost of completing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain ranges from $80 billion to $90 billion compared to about $15 billion to build a nuclear reprocessing facility.

    Porter and Republicans Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, and Phil English and Bill Shuster, both of Pennsylvania, toured the Areva nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in LaHague, France, last week on a nine-day taxpayer-funded trip.

    The lawmakers also inspected energy facilities in Azerbaijan and Turkey, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline, which transports 1 million barrels a day and is projected to reach its capacity of moving 3 million barrels daily next year, according to Porter spokesman Matt Leffingwell.

    Although not all of the oil goes to the United States, Porter described the BTC pipeline as a vital U.S. energy resource.

    "The pipeline allows us to get oil and gas from that region without Russia and Iran who like to play games," he said.

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    Vegas Vic wrote on January 18, 2008 08:18 PM: Carter started the "bans" on breeder reactors in the U.S. and no one else in Congress has ever backed the idea until now. France recovers nearly 96% of the nuclear fuel in spent rods leaving only 4% as waste. I'd say that's one HELL of a lot better than just tossing out the spent fuel cells without doing anything to them. For 31 years, European countries have been using breeder reactors to recycle nuclear waste and what has the U.S. been doing....nothing. Nothing, that is, except letting the eco-terrorists impede any progress in clean nuclear and coal electrical production.


    Beytovin wrote on January 18, 2008 11:01 AM: ths--

    I can't agree more, although I fear leadership is a quality completely lost on contemporary America. Leadership means tough decisions need to be made, often at the expense of, or detriment to, some segment of the populace. That is then seen as unfair or not politically correct. This snowballs until, well who knows, we're all still rolling downhill.


    ths wrote on January 18, 2008 09:28 AM: For once a leader in politics. Reprocessing is better then dumping. Just like people find it easier to put everything out to the trash then recycle.

    Time for the US to lead in reusing as we are the biggest consumers. Time to get our head out of our a-- and lead the world and create new leading industries for the world before we lose our edge.