Nuclear power

In "Heretical Position on Nuclear Power," Bette Hileman states that "no country has figured out a satisfactory way to deal with nuclear waste" (C&EN, Aug. 21, page 43). In fact, the Bush Administration has a plan to eliminate most of that problem. Called the UREX+ process for treating spent nuclear fuel, the recyclable material can be separated from the waste components but without ever isolating pure plutonium. Thus the useful part is recycled to a new advanced nuclear power plant but cannot be used for making nuclear weapons. The new spent nuclear fuel can be recycled by the same process again and again, leaving little to put into the Yucca Mountain project. The Department of Energy's laboratories have demonstrated the feasibility of the process, and DOE now plans to build and operate a pilot plant to prove the process.

Wilbur Shilling
Tigard, Ore.