Bush to propose nuclear fuel reprocessing

In a break from long-standing U.S. policy, the White House plans to ask Congress to pass legislation to establish an international program to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. President George W. Bush could unveil the plan as early as Jan. 31 in his State of the Union address, according to Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.). He told reporters last week that the President would propose "a much broader international approach to the disposition of nuclear waste." The U.S. has opposed reprocessing spent fuel for decades because it would yield material that could be used in nuclear weapons. The legislation is expected to call for $250 million in fiscal 2007 as a first installment on the envisioned Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, under which the U.S. would take spent fuel from participating countries, extract plutonium and other radioactive elements, and use the reprocessed fuel for power plants. Domenici said he expects to introduce the draft bill on behalf of the President next month, hold a hearing, and mark it up in the Energy & Natural Resources Committee this spring.