Illinois could become more radioactive than a Rod Blagojevich Senate appointee
under a little-talked-about Bush administration energy initiative to create the
next generation of nuclear power plants.
Already home to more nuclear facilities than any other state in the nation,
Illinois is one of 11 states in the running to host a national spent fuel
reprocessing center proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP.
The proposed Illinois site is the General Electric Morris plant near Joliet,
currently used to store nuclear waste and, if approved, would receive waste
from nuclear facilities across the nation, likely via Illinois’ numerous rail lines.
There, leftover plutonium and other materials would be removed to generate
additional power. But plutonium extraction has become the main sticking point
for environmentalists and those with concerns about weapons proliferation.
Dr. Ivan Oelrich, vice president of the Federation of American Scientists,
visited Illinois recently to lobby against GNEP, which he characterizes as too
costly, politically implausible and dangerous.
“If you woke up today and said, ‘I’m going to build a nuclear reactor, it would be 20 years before you got any
power out of it,” Oelrich offers. In the meantime, he believes, the U.S. should pursue
alternative energy solutions.
President Jimmy Carter outlawed the practice of plutonium extraction in 1977.
Ronald Reagan later lifted the ban but U.S. companies have since declined to
engage in the practice. In 2006 the DOE awarded $16 million in grants to 11
commercial and public organizations, including $1.48 million to GE Morris to
conduct site studies for proposed reprocessing centers.
Jim Riccio, a nuclear policy analyst with Greenpeace in Washington, D.C., says
GNEP would create a “wagon train of dirty bombs” through Illinois that could fall into the hands of terrorists.
Security remains the primary concern for Oelrich, a former defense department
analyst. The average nuclear reactor produces enough plutonium to make about 40
nuclear bombs, he explains. In normal processing, plutonium is contained in
used highly radioactive fuel rods.
“You wouldn’t steal one because it would kill you,” he says. “When [plutonium is] separated out, it’s millions of times less radioactive and much more concentrated so it’s much easier to steal or divert.”
Besides, no U.S. company has ever built a commercially successful fast neutron
reactor, which means any such project would have to be heavily subsidized by
the federal government or consumers will be charged more for electricity,
changing the nature of the U.S. electricity market, Oelrich says.
Greenpeace’s Riccio believes Barack Obama should dismantle GNEP when he takes office in
January.
“There are better ways to boil water,” he says. “I don’t see the need to expand nuclear.”
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinositmes.com
This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2008.
