
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994                   TAG: 9407070116
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BREEDER-REACTOR BOONDOGGLE

PLUTONIUM is a handy ingredient for making nuclear bombs, and the world has already a gracious plenty of the treacherous stuff. It is produced daily, in civilian nuclear reactors. And as the United States and Russia dismantle their missiles, they're expected to add another 100 tons or so to the stock.

Now especially, when President Clinton (with an assist from former President Carter) may possibly have convinced North Korea to freeze its nuclear program, and when he is pushing for a global ban on production of nuclear material for bombs, should the U.S. Senate be considering a program that promotes plutonium's use and actually increases the nuclear-weapons proliferation risk?

Of course not. But in the Senate plutonium is spelled p-o-r-k, and breeding pork is a Senate specialty.

At issue (again) is funding for a high-tech boondoggle known as the breeder reactor. Breeder reactors generate electricity by converting radioactive material that can't be used in nuclear weapons into plutonium - which can be. In other words, instead of decreasing the amount of hazardous wastes the world must dispose of, it changes the waste into an even more hazardous form.

What a come-on to every tinhorn dictator on the planet. What a way for America to take the lead in reducing the threat of proliferation!

Supporters suggest that breeder reactors can be used for the environmental good, to burn up the plutonium being taken out of nuclear weapons. But respected studies estimate it would take a dozen of these very expensive trash incinerators more than 1,000 years to substantially reduce this nation's plutonium inventory.

Nearly a decade ago, and after a previous decade of debate and billions spent on research, Congress rejected the proposed Clinch River Breeder Reactor, a plutonium-operated commercial nuclear facility slated for the Tennessee Valley. Why? Because cost estimates had skyrocketed from $699 million to $8 billion, and because it would have sent the wrong message about proliferation.

Prospects for breeder reactors haven't improved since - despite federally funded research continuing to the tune of more than $100 million a year.

Clinton's Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary says more research would be an "investment in technology for which there is no marketplace," and would run counter to the president's nonproliferation goals.

The heaps of disrepute piled on breeder-reactor projects are almost as high as the heaps of plutonium that the world needs to level. Nonetheless, lobbyists promising high-tech jobs for a couple of states are trying to convince the Senate to spend more on this wasteful and dangerous endeavor.

The Senate ought to recognize it for what it is: a radioactive mutant constantly threatening to come back to life and suck taxpayers' blood. It's time to drive a stake through its heart.

by CNB