| One of the related reasons helping to drive the | | | | nuclear fuel which results in the separation of |
| current uranium bull market higher is the | | | | plutonium." By April 1977, Carter issued his edict |
| "once-through" use of uranium. The world's largest | | | | indefinitely "deferring" the commercial reprocessing |
| commercial consumers of U3O8 are the U.S. | | | | of uranium. Carter wanted to bury the nuclear |
| utilities. Because of government policies established | | | | waste. This has led to the present problem of |
| thirty years ago, the U.S. nuclear reactors may | | | | where to deposit about 30 years of nuclear |
| not reprocess its uranium. Each spent control rod | | | | waste. Instead of recycling the nuclear fuel rods, |
| contains about 95 to 97 percent of unused | | | | we are now faced with decisions about where to |
| uranium. Imagine if you were only allowed to use | | | | bury nuclear waste. President Reagan lifted the |
| 5 percent of the gasoline in your tank to power | | | | ban in 1981, but in the post-TMI years, there was |
| your automobile. You would be legally bound to | | | | little interest in reprocessing. President Clinton in |
| drain the remaining 95 percent of the gasoline | | | | 1995 proceeded in a joint venture with Russian |
| from your car, store it and then refresh your | | | | government to dispose of plutonium from surplus |
| tank with new gasoline. Again, you could only use | | | | nuclear weapons, called the HEU program. |
| 5 percent of that gasoline. | | | | Ironically, France, Japan and the United Kingdom |
| Under these political circumstances, U.S. utilities | | | | reprocess their used nuclear fuel by utilizing the |
| must continuously acquire fresh supplies of | | | | technology developed in the United States. Over |
| uranium. A large-scale Generation III nuclear | | | | the past forty years, more than 75,000 metric |
| power plant will reportedly consume 30 million | | | | tons of used nuclear fuels have been reprocessed. |
| pounds of uranium oxide over its proposed | | | | France has reprocessed more than 10,000 metric |
| sixty-year operating life. When the 104 licensed | | | | tons of used reactor fuel. The United Kingdom |
| Generation II nuclear reactors are replaced with | | | | has reprocessed more than 15,000 metric tons. |
| the next generation of reactors, U.S. utilities can | | | | Reprocessing extends the life of the uranium as a |
| look forward to acquiring more than 3 billion | | | | nuclear fuel. After five or six cycles, the remaining |
| pounds of uranium to operating those plants. To | | | | plutonium can no longer be used. By recycling the |
| worsen matters, these same utilities will be | | | | uranium and plutonium within a metric ton of used |
| competing with others across the globe, which | | | | reactor fuel, utilities are getting the equivalent of |
| also want uranium to power their nuclear energy | | | | the energy from 100,000 barrels of oil. |
| programs. | | | | Instead, U.S. utilities are given a bizarre alternative |
| The Generation IV nuclear reactor designs may | | | | to reprocessing. Spent fuel rods are stored in |
| help solve the problem. The problem of | | | | nuclear fuel storage pools of water. Instead of |
| reprocessing stems from worries about plutonium | | | | reprocessing the used nuclear fuel, it must now |
| falling into the hands of terrorists. In May 1974, | | | | be safely stored. The ongoing national debate |
| India detonated a nuclear device. The device was | | | | about nuclear waste disposal, and whether or not |
| constructed from plutonium separated at its | | | | to utilize Yucca Mountain, can also find its roots in |
| reprocessing facility. The Indians had obtained | | | | the political decision made during the 1976 U.S. |
| plutonium from an insecure Canadian research | | | | presidential election. |
| reactor. | | | | U.S. utilities are currently held hostage from all |
| Then-presidential candidate James Earl Carter was | | | | sides: (a) provide a cleaner source of energy to a |
| opposed to recycling plutonium. He debated | | | | growing appetite for electricity; (b) don't |
| then-President Gerald Ford about the evils of | | | | reprocess spent fuel rods, but instead burden the |
| reprocessing. This election also took place during | | | | uranium miners to obtain a fresh supply of |
| the high point of the 1970s uranium bull market. | | | | uranium for their re-fueling cycles; (c) dispose of |
| President Ford blinked and issued a 1976 policy | | | | the nuclear waste in new and inventive ways (dry |
| statement, "The avoidance of proliferation must | | | | cask shortage to alleviate the rising storage |
| take precedence over economic interests." He | | | | pools); (d) build newer and safer nuclear reactors. |
| changed the domestic policies of the | | | | Once-through has created numerous problems for |
| "commercialization of chemical reprocessing of | | | | U.S. utilities, and ultimately for every American. |