Old Russian nukes for US electricity

Nuclear Warheads for Power

Whether its turning on a light or watching the TV, most of us take our electricity for granted and don't take a second to think where it might be coming from. With all this talk about renewable energy, we might hope that it comes from a wind turbine or solar plant. But what about the dismantled warhead from a Russian nuclear bomb?

Since the end of the cold war, Russia and the US have held an agreement that allows America to use the nuclear power from old warheads, from which the states now get 10 percent of its electricity.

However, if more diluted weapons-grade uranium isn't secured soon, the pipeline could run dry, with ramifications for consumers, as well as some American utilities and their Russian suppliers, as told by the New York Times. Unknown to many Americans, the last 20 years has seen the influence of nuclear disarmament increased greatly in the electricity industry.

Supply gap generating panic

10 percent may seem a modest share of the nation's power generation, but when compared to just three percent produced from solar, biomass, wind and geothermal, the figure gains more significance. Not all of the fuel in American nuclear reactors comes from the Russian warhead, but 45 percent of it does.

The program for dismantling and diluting the fuel cores of decommissioned Russian warheads - known informally as Megatons to Megawatts - is set to expire in 2013, just as the industry is trying to sell it forcefully as an alternative to coal-powered energy plants, which emit greenhouse gases.

Now, the possibility of a supply gap is generating such panic among the utilities operating America's 104 nuclear reactors.

Utilities in desperate need of supplies

Nuclear sector giants such as France-based Areva and US-based Rosatom, are heavily involved in the recycling of weapons material and are in desperate need of supplies if that side of their business is to continue.

US domestic weapons recycling is underway, but pales in comparison to the Megatons to Megawatts program.

Like it or not, the practice of using Russian warheads to generate US electricity has become very important to the US power industry.

But in what may come as at least a crumb of comfort for utilities, the New York Times also reports that American plutonium recycling is also well under way at a factory being built at the Energy Department's Savannah River site in South Carolina. Its sole purpose will be to dismantle warheads from the American arsenal; a type of plutonium fuel, called mixed-oxide fuel, will come on the market in 2017.

In total, the 34 tons to be recycled there are expected to generate enough electricity for a million American homes for 50 years.

Image: The New York Times

Related Articles:

US wholesale power markets | Obama has smart plans for the grid | Climate legislation: A better alternative

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: