This is where things get difficult politically. The plan currently calls for using the reactor to produce tritium, a radioactive gas used to boost the power of nuclear weapons. Tritium production at FFTF would likely be only temporary until a permanent source, either a new accelerator or a converted light water nuclear power plant, was ready to come online. Tritium production would provide the bridge, the economic justification for running FFTF until the medical isotopes market matured. After years of concentrating on cleaning up the horrendous legacy of 50 years of plutonium production, Hanford could be labeled as back in the bomb-making business.
Unanswered questions abound.
The studies released earlier this month found there were no technical or safety reasons FFTF couldn't be used to make tritium. Because of national security reasons, it's unclear how much tritium the nation's nuclear arsenal needs, but FFTF could produce about 1.5 kilograms annually - apparently enough to meet stockpile needs. The medical isotopes and tritium could be produced simultaneously. Energy Secretary Federico Peqa could make a decision on the future of FFTF by the end of 1997 or early next year. An environmental impact statement could be done in about a year, about the same time the department is expected to make its final decision on tritium production.