DENATURED PLUTONIUM

Although weapons-grade plutonium, or almost pure Pu 239 could act as a fuel, it would be unwise to use it for a number of reasons, of which the most obvious is theft by terrorists.

The plutonium must therefore be "denatured," but this cannot bc done chemically, since the plutonium could be chemically ex-tracted again. It is, however, an easy matter to mix in the con-taminating plutonium isotopes Pu 238, Pu 240, Pu 241, and Pu 242. They are abundantly available in the fuel rods of the 111 US nuclear reactors, where all plutonium isotopes are produced by slow burn-up. In fact, about 10% of all electricity from America's second-largest power source (after coal) comes from plutonium right now. To turn weapons-grade into reactor-grade plutonium (unusable for bombs) is an easy matter, comparable to the ease of splashing tar over a painting as compared to producing the original painting.

Originally, back in the days when the Sierra Club promoted nuclear power (they promote any energy until it is available), it was envisioned to recycle used fuel rods, because they still contain 90% of the energy available in them, but are "poisoned" by fission products. An industrial plant operated by Allied General Nuclear Service stood ready to do this in Barnwell, S.C., when the great energy conservationist and recycling fan Jimmy Carter banned reprocessing, allegedly to set an example to the rest of the world. Too stupid to know that reactor-grade plutonium could not be made to explode predictably, if at all, he botched the example-setting also. Europe, Britain and Japan (not to mention Russia) reprocess merrily to this day. The "example" set by uranium-rich America to the energy-starved countries of Europe and Japan was seen as more of his hypocrisy, and was sneeringly ignored.

The unreliability, unpredictability and general worthlessness of a US government promise hit home at home in 1981, when Ronald Reagan lifted Carter's senseless ban. But by that time the nuclear industry knew the score as well as Europe and Japan had got to know it, and decided not to operate the plant. The polite code word used by the nuclear industry for "the government is a bunch of fickle liars" is regulatory uncertainty. The economics under a savage anti-nuclear mass media campaign played a secon-dary role at the time.