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| Idaho Supports Plutonium 238 Production Plan | |
| 2005-08-30 | |
| BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The state is supporting an Energy Department proposal to start producing plutonium-238 for NASA and national security agencies at a federal nuclear research compound in eastern Idaho. But in comments submitted Monday to the government, the state called on the Bush administration to spell out a plan to transfer the highly radioactive waste created at the Idaho National Laboratory to disposal sites out of state. The state also wants the Energy Department to allow independent monitoring of air emissions and workplace safety at the proposed $300 million production facility. With those caveats, the administration of Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said it will endorse the government's plan to consolidate U.S. production of plutonium-238 ``space batteries'' at the 890-square-mile complex outside of Idaho Falls. ``It's a concept we can support, but there are some details that still need to be worked out and DOE needs to improve some of its evaluation and communication,'' said Kathleen Trever, Kempthorne's coordinator for oversight of the lab.
The United States stopped producing plutonium-238 when it shut the last weapons reactor at the Savannah River complex in South Carolina in the mid-1990s. Instead it has relied on existing stockpiles and a supply provided by Russia that is limited to use by NASA in the space program. The Bush administration wants to use an existing reactor at the lab to make 11 pounds of plutonium-238 annually for 35 years, beginning in 2010. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Steve, I'm a proud citizen of Nevada, the Battle Born state. Most of us are really unenthusiastic about Yucca Mountain. Actually, we hate the idea. Do you know why? It's because Californians always dumps their sh!t in our state, that's why. When the "ecologically sensitive" inhabitants of the Idiot State want to build a coal power plant, why, they look to Nevada. When they have more trash than they can put in their landfills, why, they take it to Nevada. When California has more maximum security prisoners than its prisons can hold.... you guessed it. Nevada. I doubt it has ever occurred to most Californians that with every passing year the majority of us hate the majority of them a little bit more. After all, there are 30+ million of them and only 2+ million of us. Several urban Californians (I work in San Francisco some of the time) have even expressed surprise to me that anybody even lives in Nevada. I mean, it’s just a wasteland, right? The ignorance, arrogance, and craven decadence of your average Tarnished State city dweller never fails to amaze and appal me. Truly, they are the most worthless variety of American. Californians have completely destroyed their own home and are looking outwards for new places to culturally, legally, and literally trash. Something like 95% of our state is still pristine wilderness; most of us hope to keep it that way. So screw them and, if the rest of you want to dump your garbage in our state, screw you too. I don’t have a problem with nuclear power but what gave other Americans the notion that my home is a junkyard? If you live in New York, keep your radioactive waste in New York. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2005-08-30 14:59 |
| #4 We will help employ their aerospace and nuclear scientists / engineers or they'll find work supporting someone else. Good investment. |
| Posted by: lotp 2005-08-30 10:45 |
| #3 And rocket engine designs too. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-08-30 10:43 |
| #2 Anyone else here grow up during the Cold War and find the whole idea of Russia supplying us with nuclear material bizarre? |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-08-30 09:45 |
| #1 "You say you want to drop a few billion on our state economy? Well...ok." |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-08-30 00:42 |