TMS Public and Governmental Affairs Resource Center

FROM THE FEDERATION OF MATERIALS SOCIETIES: The Bush Administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), described by Assistant Secretary of Energy Dennis Spurgeon as "the cornerstone" of "a vision, with international partners, to make the expansion of nuclear energy a reality," has run into trouble in Congress. The House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee declared that "the Department (of Energy) has established a pattern of rushing into the latest new initiative with unbridled enthusiasm, neglecting the completion of on-going work, and letting haste make waste. Most major DOE projects have long time scales, longer than those of political change. This means that it is essential to take time up-front to establish the reliability of new technologies that will be used, to complete end-to-end system engineering and include all mission requirements, and to build bipartisan support for long-term missions that is broad rather than local. . . . While the Committee is generally supportive of continued research that could lead to an eventual program of light water nuclear reactor spent fuel recycling, should that become necessary in the future, the aggressive program proposed by the Department is at best premature. . . . The renaissance (in nuclear energy generation) has not taken shape as yet. It will be some years before one can be confident the industry will be renewed. . . . The Committee supports continued research on advanced fuel cycles, including the development of technologies for recycling spent nuclear fuel. However, the Committee does not support the Department's rushed, poorly-defined, expansive, and expensive GNEP proposal."

On the other side of the Hill, the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee stated that "the Administration must come forward with more alternatives in the fuel cycle and recycling process. . . . The Committee notes that the Department seems to have decided on a recycling pathway that consists of the UREX+ separations technology and sodium cooled advanced burner reactors. Many feel the decision to down-select to these technologies was made too soon. The Committee directs the Department to support a broader technology research and development program that better defines the technical requirements, validates the proliferation resistance and demonstrates the commercial feasibility of various recycling technologies."

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