America Finally Abandons Plan To Convert Plutonium Bombs Into Nuclear Fuel (reuters.com)

MOX hoped to convert plutonium from Cold War bombs into fuel for nuclear power plants, but even though the project was about 70% complete, Washington has pulled the plug. Slashdot reader Mr. Dollar Ton shared this story from Reuters: The Department of Energy told Senate and House of Representatives committees in May that MOX, a type of specialized nuclear recycling plant that has never been built in the United States, would cost about $48 billion more than the $7.6 billion already spent on it. Instead of completing MOX, the Trump administration, like the Obama administration before it, wants to blend the 34 tonnes of deadly plutonium -- enough to make about 8,000 nuclear weapons -- with an inert substance and bury it underground in New Mexico's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Burying the plutonium would cost nearly $20 billion over the next two decades and would require 400 jobs at Savannah River, the Department of Energy has estimated.

Comments

Re: hmm 34 tons is nothing

[b0s0z0ku]

Pu239 can run a reactor in space, though. Pu238 is for radioisotope thermal generators. But both types of power generator can power a long-range spacecraft. Pu239 is better in some ways -- reactors can produce more power than a RiTeG, and also, it's relatively non-radioactive until a reactor is started. Start the reactor after entry into space, and you're much safer from launch mishaps than if you used faster-decaying Pu238,