KYNF calls INL Proposal "Predetermined"

By Gil Brady
7.30.05

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo — During an interview for PJH's upcoming issue on a Department of Energy (DOE) plan to center the production of plutonium-238 at Idaho National Laboratories, Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free (KYNF) President Tom Patricelli informed the Planet that, "This was a predetermined outcome."

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the federal government decided to increase its demand for remote and harsh environment thermal decay batteries (a.k.a. Radioisotope Power Systems or RPSs) to power NASA and National Security missions (such as fueling spy satellites). Highly enriched plutonium-238 is the main ingredient in the production of RPSs, and accelerating the rate of production — to 5 kilos (11 lbs) of Pu-238, per year, by 2011 – falls to the DOE to accomplish.

KYNF is the leading watchdog group opposing the DOE's proposal to stockpile the nation's supply of plutonium-238 (currently around 40 kilograms) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in Idaho Falls. The Idaho nuclear reactor lays 40 miles upwind of Yellowstone National Park, and KYNF is concerned about nuclear fallout potentially contaminating the region should the DOE plan at INL go through. <snip>

"They say they consider all these alternatives," Mr. Patricelli said, referring to two other government run nuclear plants in Tennessee and New Mexico, "but if you read the EIS closely you see in there that it says, ‘Only a site with an operating nuclear reactor was considered for this project'." Patricelli continued, "Now, the only place where there is an operating nuclear reactor that can make 5 kilograms of plutonium-238 a year is INL." <snip>

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