The United States government will soon have 50 tons of this poison to get rid of after it dismantles some of its nuclear weapons. Sixteen nuclear utilities have already expressed interest in taking the MOX fuel. Within 30 days of the FEIS, Energy Secretary O'Leary will issue a Record Of Decision under NEPA and the program will begin to move forward. The biggest concern that the MOX promoters have is how much resistance they will meet at the local level. We need to show them NOW .
Vitrification is a technique just being developed.
However, MOX is no less experimental when it comes to putting it in light water reactors that were not designed for it. MOX would have profound impacts on the operation of these reactors and the discharges and waste that result. The routine emissions to air and water will also contain a higher level of plutonium and fission products. Because of the increased fission products, the irradiated fuel would have a greater heat load, complicating all waste storage and disposal options currently available or contemplated. It would also contain about five times more plutonium than uranium fuel does after one cycle in the reactor core, making criticality an even greater concern.