Non-proliferation experts urge US to not support nuclear fuel project (Reuters)

“Nuclear proliferation experts who served under four U.S. presidents told President Joe Biden and his administration on Thursday that a pilot project to recycle spent nuclear fuel would violate U.S. nuclear security policy.

SHINE Technologies and Orano signed a memorandum of understanding in February to develop a U.S. plant to recycle, or reprocess, nuclear waste. It would have a capacity of 100 tonnes a year beginning in the early 2030s.

The project would violate a policy signed by Biden in March, 2023 that says civil nuclear research and development should focus on approaches that ‘avoid producing and accumulating weapons-usable nuclear material,’ the experts said in a letter to the president.

‘If such a facility were constructed in the United States, it would legitimize the building of reprocessing plants in other countries, thereby increasing risks of proliferation and nuclear terrorism,’ they said.”

Read the full article from Reuters by clicking here.

Read the letter to President Biden from the non-proliferation experts by clicking here.