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