THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602040062
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Virginia Power is exploring use of its civilian nuclear reactors to create tritium, a gas used in nuclear warheads to boost the explosive power of hydrogen bombs.
Virginia's largest utility last week told federal authorities about the idea.
Virginia Power operates four reactors, two each at plants in Surry and Louisa counties. Spokesman James W. Norvelle described the company's interest in the programs as ``mild,'' but said the ideas were attractive financially as the utility industry faces unprecedented competition.
``As we enter into that competitive world, we're looking for ways to make some money - safely,'' he said.
The process would involve the insertion of special fuel canisters into commercial reactors during normal refuelings. The irradiation of the canisters would generate tritium gas inside them, and the Department of Energy would transport the canisters to its Savannah River Site in South Carolina and extract the gas there.
``Utility customers would never know that while their home lights are burning, the TV's on and the VCR is running away, (they are) helping the Department of Energy with its national security requirements,'' said Jonathan Ventura, director of planning and legislative analysis for the department's defense programs.
The department floated the ideas in mid-December among utilities with commercial nuclear operations. Virginia Power said it was among 17 utilities that expressed interest.
The project is part of a two-track strategy that Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary announced in October.
She said the department would pursue the use of civilian reactors and construction of a linear accelerator at the Savannah River Site, where the agency produced tritium until the late 1980s.
Anti-nuclear groups say the idea breaches a long-guarded protection against military use of civilian reactors.
``There has been sort of a philosophical firewall in U.S. policy between civilian and military activities,'' said Jennifer Weeks, director of the arms control program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington.
However, she added, the commercial option would represent ``the lesser of evils'' compared to building a new production reactor at Savannah River.
Weeks questioned whether a new source of tritium is needed, since the government will be able to extract and recycle enough gas from dismantled warheads to maintain its arsenal through 2011. The forecast depends on ratification of the START II arms reduction treaty signed by the United States and Russia.
President Clinton has declared as surplus 38 metric tons of plutonium from the country's nuclear arsenal, which Energy Department officials said has shrunken from a high of 50,000 weapons. The agency is conducting an environmental study on how to dispose of up to 50 metric tons. by CNB