MOX Power Reactors Background The federal government is currently pursuing two options for disposal of roughly 50 metric tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium. The first option is to immobilize the plutonium with other highly radioactive waste in glass or ceramic and dispose of the combination in a geological repository. The second option is to mix it with depleted uranium to make mixed oxide or MOX fuel, which would then be used in commercial power plants to produce electricity. The immobilization of plutonium in glass or ceramic form involves fewer steps, less handling and transportation, and would cost approximately $1.8 billion. The MOX option, by contrast, would cost at least $2.6 billion, keep plutonium in use, increase handling, transportation, and security risks, take more time to implement, and create more radioactive waste.
Green Scissors Proposal Terminate the proposed subsidy of fueling commercial nuclear power reactors with weapons-grade plutonium made into MOX fuel. Estimated savings would be at least $800 million.
Project Hurts Taxpayers The MOX option would ultimately cost taxpayers at least $2.6 billion, according to the DOE. Up to $1.9 billion would go toward changes in reactors and MOX fuel fabrication. Currently, an industry consortium consisting of Duke Power, Virginia Power and several European nuclear companies have been awarded an initial contract for this project. Current estimates predict that the DOE would have to offer $500 million as an incentive for utilities to use MOX and an additional $200 million to offset higher fuel costs. Immobilization is a much cheaper option, with estimated costs at $1.8 billion.
Project Hurts Environment Plutonium is an extreme health hazard when inhaled or absorbed through cuts or abrasions. As little as 1/100,000 of an ounce can cause lung cancer when inhaled. MOX will result in increased levels of plutonium in both low-level and high-level reactor wastes, increasing the risk of groundwater contamination.
Using MOX fuel for these reactors would reduce the stability of reactor cores, necessitating increased taxpayer expenditures on reactor modifications to restore the same level of control as with uranium fuel. Moreover, the consequences of reactor accidents, should they occur, would be more severe.
$800 million