Thursday, November 12, 2009
U-235, the radioactive material that once threatened to blow up the United States is today helping to generate more electricity for American homes than hydroelectric or alternative sources of power. Unbeknownst to most consumers, the Megatons to Megawatts partnership between the U.S. and Russia has produced large amounts of U-235 from dismantled nuclear weapons that are being used by nuclear power plants throughout the United States. Salvaged bomb material today generates about 10% of electricity in the U.S., compared to the 6% that comes from hydropower and the 3% from solar, biomass, wind and geothermal.
But the pipeline of nuclear fuel from Russia could dry up by 2013, when the treaty behind it expires. The nuclear power industry is hoping the Obama administration works out a new arms reduction treaty resulting in more warheads being decommissioned by both sides. That would create new stockpiles of U-235 to be converted into civilian use, and help the industry demonstrate the value of nuclear power as an alternative to coal-fired power plants that are adding to the problem of global warming.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Power for U.S. From Russia’s Old Nuclear Weapons (by Andrew Kramer, New York Times)
Megatons to Megawatts (USEC Inc.)
The Fallacy of the Megatons to Megawatts Program (by Pavel Podvig, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
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